Human

Genesis admittedly had some misgivings about this fight, but a long look at the expression in Nero's eyes caused him to realize this boy was already broken. He either didn't have the strength to heal, or didn't want to bother, making him dangerous, heartless, uncaring. Somehow, he thought Nero would be exactly the kind of puppet Jenova would want, and he wondered if the boy had any of her cells in him. If he did, it was probably a miniscule amount, otherwise she'd have already taken control of him, but that then begged the question of why Ed was so sure he would lose control. And the arrays and how he'd have to use them to counter Nero's void power if he went out of control left a bad taste in his mouth.

As the two began fighting, blade against 'wing blades' and daggers about the size of a pistol, Genesis noted how the boy was fast (not like Rosso, but fast enough), capitalizing on his ability to move. His mostly dark, silver, and black clothing made him easy to see and follow against the pale color of the arena, but his speed made it harder to react and block every attack. Genesis, being the more slender agility fighter as well, was able to keep up with him, but he began to grasp why someone like Angeal, or even Sephiroth, would lose to this boy. It was truly more about how their skills matched up rather than their overall ability.

However, after about ten minutes of being beaten back, the boy—who had obviously expected a quick win—yelled in sudden fury and sent a ball of pitch black energy at him. Genesis had only moments to cast Reflect on himself before it hit him, and as the Reflect bubble visibly shuddered under the pressure of a spell which wasn't turning back on his caster, he swallowed hard. Now he knew what Ed had meant about the void power Nero used, and why he would need an array to obliterate that void power. It was terrifying to realize he was trapped in a floating bubble which would eventually collapse from the strain of the void, leaving him to be destroyed.

His only chance was indeed the arrays Ed had talked with him about and shown him in hazy form around his arm while they'd been in the room next door. But, did he have enough time to make it work in his current circumstances?

Well, do or die...

Drawing in a deep breath and closing his eyes, Genesis tuned out the Reflect bubble and the darkness beyond it to focus on remembering both the original array, and on changes he wanted to make to the original. Those were his own changes, and they took into account some of the functions of the spell Purify, one of the arrays Scarlet had drawn. As he focused on what he was trying to do, he suddenly felt one of his summons—his Alexander—take interest in it and help guide him, not by performing the casting completely free-hand, but by channeling it through the Alexander Materia at his wrist.

Genesis seized on the support, never before having felt so thankful for any of his Summons as he did right then. It would work, because now he wasn't the only one trying to use it.

FoWD

Everyone gaped in shock as a black bubble surrounded Genesis, clearly being directed by Nero, but Ed just gazed at the bubble tersely. Apparently, everyone had been expecting the bubble to dissipate quickly, but it didn't, and Nero audibly growled in frustration as he yelled, "Just die already!"

One of the Restrictors started forward, heading for Nero, but before he reached the boy, the black bubble which had been hanging in the middle of the arena suddenly blazed with light and dissipated rapidly, releasing that light to flash brilliantly across the arena. The sudden release of the light blinded everyone for a moment, but those at the right angle—like Rufus and Ed, who had covered their eyes as the light first shone through the black bubble—were able to see the light spreading in Nero's direction until it struck him, causing him to cry out in pain.

Both blonds also saw the Restrictor say something to Nero which caused his eyes to roll back into his head as he collapsed in a dead faint.

A few moments later, the light dissipated and left Genesis to drop to the crater in the arena floor where the bubble had stopped, his black and white streaked wing showing as light retreated from it to flow down his arm to the bracer at his wrist. He was obviously exhausted and almost sagged forward to the arena floor, but after a stumble, managed to keep himself upright, though crouched and hunched. After several moments, Genesis forced himself to his feet, apparently realized his wing was showing and retracted it, then looked at Nero.

It took a few more moments for him to be announced the winner, then the Restrictor carried Nero off the stage and Genesis dragged his feet back to his team, where Angeal quickly caught and braced him. As Genesis took an Elixir to recover, Ed turned his gaze back to the stage, where Weiss had stepped onto it and was just waiting for Percia to join him. She did a few moments later, and the fight start was called.

"They seriously sent a Turk to fight me?" Weiss asked her in amusement.

"I learned to fight by sparring with Sephiroth, so I'm one of the best in the Turks in close combat fighting," she replied bluntly.

"Ah," the boy nodded. "Then you're strong enough that I won't have to pull my punches. I'll be glad of the challenge. And sorry about my younger brother—he's not completely sane."

Her brow rose and she asked, "Apology accepted, but are any of you actually sane?"

Weiss chuckled in amusement and replied, "I don't know that we're the best ones to judge sanity, but Nero is the extreme, so even we can tell he's not right in the head."

Percia's brow rose higher, but she asked instead, "Shall we spar, then?"

"Yes, let's," the white haired fourteen-year-old agreed genially.

As they launched themselves forward and into combat, Rufus commented, "Weiss is being rather talkative, isn't he?"

"He is," Ed agreed. "Seeing him like that when he still serves Deepground is unusual—that openness is usually reserved for when he's free of them."

"Is that a good sign or a bad one?" Kariya asked from behind the blonds, and Ed paused to assess the question and the situation for a moment.

In theory, it could mean Weiss was so invested in Deepground that he'd never break away from them, and quite literally treated them as his family and Reactor 0 as his home. However, that would also have been true of every Weiss, because he had been born and raised there, it was literally all he knew. The only way Weiss could feel so strongly about Deepground was if this version of them wasn't abusive, which he sincerely doubted. That left Weiss being in a shockingly good headspace in this dimension, which normally also meant he and Argento were close friends in this one, a rare state of affairs. Depending on their depth of bond, there was also the chance Rosso and others—more than the normal handful of members—could be saved, too.

"I think it's good," he told Kariya. "It usually means more of them can be saved."

"We'll hope for that, then," Rufus agreed.

"But prepare for the worst all the same," Doriss threw in pragmatically.

"Obviously," Rufus agreed, and Ed noticed he was watching Percia fight with an impressed expression on his face.

It was true in every dimension that Percia's combat skills were incredible if she was given the opportunity to learn, but this was the first time they were seeing her as an ally, not an enemy, from the start. Rather than having grudging respect for what she could do, they instead had honest admiration for and camaraderie with her. Rufus, who didn't respect anyone normally until he was given a dose of reality, and who wasn't close with her in this dimension to begin with, was starting to see her actual strength. Ed hoped it would lead the two of them to being friends, because they could both use the support.

Either way, Weiss and Percia sparred for a good fifteen minutes before she was thrown out of the ring, which also ended the first round of the tournament. There was a short break—about five minutes—before Sephiroth and the remaining unnamed Deepground woman stepped into the ring. Like her previous opponent, the General was quick to work out how to beat her, and it was over when he deliberately lowered his blade while she was in forward motion. She didn't meet resistance, so couldn't stop herself and ended up outside the ring because of how close to the edge he'd let her push him. Angeal and Azul were next, and after a lot of exchanges of heavy blows, Angeal used a Demi Blade and knocked his opponent out with it.

"That must have been a recent switch after March's fight with Azul," Ed mused as he noted how the Demi Blade effect was on the wrong sword.

"I beg your pardon?" Rufus asked in surprise as Rosso and Tseng entered the arena—and the red haired fifteen-year-old launched herself at the Wutain almost immediately.

"Any other time Angeal used Demi Blade, it was on his buster sword, not the standard-issue SOLDIER blade," Ed explained. "That was dependent on Genesis' sanity or lack thereof—the longer he stayed sane, the more likely he was to get Angeal to use a Gravity Materia. If Angeal had already been doing so, it wouldn't be on his SOLDIER sword. This was how he decided to deal with the difficulty Azul presents in combat, not something he was already working with."

"Noted," Rufus agreed, seeing the two now in the arena repeatedly shoving one another back nearly to the edge of the arena. He suddenly realized why it was best for Tseng to move forward due to his likelihood of survival—nearly anyone else would have been skewered by Rosso.

Suddenly, when Rosso had shoved Tseng back, she ducked and swung her leg out to trip him, and while he nearly dodged it, her speed boost activated mid-sweep caused his reaction time to be just a little too slow. He tripped and fell outside the ring, leading to Rosso's win. Weiss and Genesis were the next ones up, and Genesis was still looking a little tired, even with the support of an Elixir.

"Are you sure you're fit to fight right now?" Weiss asked a little apprehensively.

"I can't cast worth shit right now," Genesis smirked in sleepy amusement. "But I can still fight. Besides, after seeing you fight Percia, I don't have high hopes of winning this without magic."

"What does my fight with Percia have to do with this?" the white haired young man asked in confusion.

"I can't defeat Sephiroth. She was trained by Sephiroth, and can evenly match him, even without enhancements. If you beat her, that makes you stronger than two people I already can't beat, so yeah...My chances are pretty low here with the restrictions, since even if I was at full power, I couldn't just throw around magic the way I usually do," Genesis explained candidly, making Weiss chuckle.

"You'll give it your best, though?" the younger of the two asked.

With a small smile, Genesis agreed, "I plan to."

As they jumped forward to fight, Weiss' two blades against Genesis' one, Rufus commented, "And there's Weiss being talkative again." The comment made Ed snort, though it was true. This Weiss was like an eager child trying to befriend the world. Maybe that was part of the training he had been given to interact with people, since it would make him more personable, but he didn't think it would be so easy.

The match between Genesis and Weiss was longer than expected, about half an hour, but the rapid blade strikes kept everyone's attention, and it was clear Genesis was doing a good job of holding his own. It was also clear after about fifteen minutes that he was starting to gradually lose ground, whether from weakening or being pushed back. Everyone there also knew Genesis was exhausted and blamed that—rightfully—for how he finally just collapsed at Weiss' feet, much to the white haired teen's surprise. Regardless, Weiss was declared the winner, and the President called a halt for everyone to eat.

Half an hour later, the tournament proceeded with round three, the semi-finals, in which there were only going to be two matches—Sephiroth and Rosso, and Angeal and Weiss. As Sephiroth and Rosso stepped into the arena, everyone turned to watch them, and their match was much like Rosso's two previous ones. The difference was that she kept moving around him rather than just trying to push him back, making it a lot harder for him to force her into a ring-out the easy way. Using her speed against her was still an option, but Ed wasn't sure this Sephiroth knew the other way of beating her.

As it turned out, he did know it. When Sephiroth got annoyed with her taking up almost an hour of his time in this way, he shifted as she charged at him, and rather than either giving her resistance or letting her fly past him, he seized her wrist, spun as he pulled her up into the air, and slammed her down on the arena floor on the opposite side of his body. Before she could move, he had his blade against her neck, and with his other hand still tightly holding her wrist, she was trapped. Hers was the first actual surrender in the tournament, and it was clear she was pissed about it.

Weiss and Angeal took their places in the arena, Weiss made small talk for a few moments, and the match went for about half an hour while Weiss tried to figure out how to push back or knock down the other man. It was as though he hadn't been expecting Angeal to be a solid wall which was pretty much unmovable, but that was exactly how the older man had braced himself. Ed found it amusing how it took the white haired young man so long to realize he needed to fight Angeal the same way he fought Azul, but once he did, Angeal fell hard and fast. It was over in the blink of an eye, and Angeal was unconscious. The two Firsts, Vale and March, were the ones to take him out of the arena.

Finally, it was time for Sephiroth and Weiss to fight.

"I'm actually a little surprised you made it this far," Weiss commented to him, then smiled and added, "But I'm glad you did."

"Really?" Sephiroth asked in mild surprise.

"I need more decent sparring partners. If it's true you're as good as Percia, you'll be one, win or lose," Weiss replied, looking pleased.

It was obvious by his expression that Sephiroth was bemused by the comment, so just replied, "Well, we'll be finding out shortly."

"We will," the younger of the two agreed.

Their match began like any other, with a rapid exchange of strikes, their blades pretty much a blur of movement. It didn't take them long to start moving around the arena, trying to get another angle or find a blind spot, much the way Weiss' matches with Percia and Genesis had been. Also like their matches, there came a point in the half-hour bout which marked a definitive edge for Weiss as he gradually forced his opponent to a loss. Much like in the match with Percia, Sephiroth's eventual loss came from being thrown from the arena, and Weiss was the final victor.

The crowd was split between cheering and booing, and it took awhile for everything to calm down enough for the President to say, "Now that we've established Deepground as part of Shinra, be aware that you'll be seeing them around, using our facilities. Largely, it shouldn't affect SOLDIER and the Turks when they use the ones here in the main building, as they have their own facilities elsewhere, but be respectful of them when you do see them around. Now that we're done here, it's otherwise business as usual, beginning tomorrow morning. For today, head home and rest up." He looked very self-satisfied as everyone began heading out.

"So...Deepground will be wandering around openly now?" Doriss asked in distaste.

"Just wait for him to enforce martial law," Ed sighed tiredly, shaking his head.

"And just when you were about to start going out and exploring, too...Does that mean you won't now?" Elicia asked from his shoulder, rubbing her head against his cheek, then peering worriedly up at him.

Ed sighed at the question, not seeing how Kariya and Doriss traded worried expressions. "I don't know. I probably still will—I'm tired of being cooped up—but cautiously, and probably with company at first."

"That's better than nothing," Elicia said happily, ears waving as she started purring. "And you know I'll go with you no matter what! Otherwise, what are best friends for?"

"Keeping foolish idiots out of trouble," he replied to her promptly, and she giggled.

"That too!" she agreed.

"Looks like it's cleared out enough for us to head out now," Rufus commented, raising a brow at Kariya and Doriss, who were grinning in amusement. "Why are the two of you suddenly so cheerful?"

"It's not sudden," Doriss replied dryly. "Ed and Elicia share this sort of banter—a lot. It's always funny to listen to, and it's been helping him recover by leaps and bounds. Reeve and Doctor Crescent just hit gold in the trauma recovery category."

"I can agree with that," Kariya agreed. "And we should head out."

"Um..." a voice began from almost right beside Rufus, making him turn to look—and stare in shock—at Weiss, and at Rosso, a few steps behind him. The others followed his gaze, and Weiss' expression turned faintly amused. "Sorry to bother you, but now that we have some freedom, could I ask one of you to show us around the city? We've been able to do a little exploring before—like when we met at the restaurant—but not...informally, I guess? Where we could see more than the Restrictors wanted us to see. And Rosso said it just started raining, so she wants to see what it feels like."

The others traded surprised looks, then Doriss took out her PHS to check for a weather update, then said, "I guess if no one else is able, I have some time to go with you, since my work shift this evening just got canceled by the President."

"What's rain?" Elicia asked curiously. Yufi and Shelke started giggling at the question.

"Shelke, is Elicia waterproof?" Ed asked with a faint sigh.

"Yes," she agreed, still giggling faintly. "But we forgot to program her with weather data. Sorry."

"I don't think knowing what rain is and actually experiencing it personally are comparable, Shelke..." the long haired blond told her in a dry tone, making her rub the back of her head in faint embarrassment as she blushed faintly. "So she'd still have asked about it, just not necessarily the same way as she did just now."

"So, do we get to go out, too, if all of you go?" she asked, switching topics quickly—and making her father sigh in the process.

"And what about Genesis?" he asked her.

She held up her PHS and said, "He texted me to not worry about him, because he's just tired right now. He even said it's better if I'm not there, because he'd be really boring company just sleeping. And anyway, I don't think Yufi could stay quiet for that long."

"Nope, not a chance!" Yufi agreed shamelessly. "Sleeping people are boring!"

"I supposed this is turning into a regular party, then," Rufus said in wry amusement, and Weiss and Rosso traded surprised looks.

"So wait—are all of you coming with us?" Weiss asked in surprise. "Even after what happened that day?"

"That's what we've been discussing," Kariya agreed. "And as long as you're not planning on hijacking Shelke or Ed, we're good. We all know what orders are, kiddo. So far, that means Doriss, Ed, Elicia, Shelke, Yufi, and apparently Rufus. Because Shelke is going and she's my daughter, I have to go by default." He turned to look at Shalua and asked, "What about you, Shalua? You could stay around here or join us, whichever you like."

"I'll go. Shelke and Yufi get into way too much trouble without me around," Shalua replied dismissively. The words set both girls off on another giggling fit.

"So, now that we've decided that, where are some places you wanted to see but haven't yet been able to?" Rufus asked the two Tsviets, facing them and noting how both still looked actively surprised.

They traded looks, then Rosso asked hopefully, "LOVELESS Avenue...the Theater...Maybe a play if they have one right now?"

"I think that can be arranged," Rufus smiled. "Shall we, then?"

The group headed out, the Restrictors and the President watching them go with puzzled expressions.

FoWD

As the group with Weiss and Rosso left the now largely empty room, Lady Shinra and Verdot looked out the control room window, which was at the top right side of the room, on the same wall as the door. It was where a couple of the company employees had been keeping track of the tournament matches and posting them on the electronic board in the room. She had asked Verdot to clear it for her before going into it to watch her husband and the Restrictors, and Carbuncle was now sitting on the rim of the one-way window while she looked into the room. She sighed as she noted their puzzled expressions at the group which left with the two young Tsviets.

"Verdot, that worries me," she sighed.

"I don't think you need to worry yet," he answered. "Not about the ones who just left, anyway."

"Why do you think that?" the woman blinked, keeping her eyes on the remaining people in the room.

"He needs a reason to enforce martial law, something the citizens, or at least his employees, won't challenge him on," Verdot answered. "That's not to say he wouldn't scrap public opinion if he truly felt threatened, but right now, he wants public opinion to be on his side, hence a reason to enforce martial law. This isn't the first time he's deliberately tried to create the circumstances which would allow him to do something to enforce his power in some way. Because there's 'bad blood' between those two Tsviets and Edward's group, he assumed they would react poorly to Weiss and Rosso approaching them for anything. That in turn would give him an excuse to enforce martial law, as they then wouldn't have been abiding his orders to treat them with respect. Instead, they more than behaved cordially with them."

Lady Shinra thought about that for a minute, then smiled faintly and said, "In other words, they did the unexpected and simply accepted the new state of affairs, something my husband didn't calculate for but also can't complain about. I've never been so grateful for the perceptiveness of the Turks before, all of them."

"Nor have I," Verdot agreed. "But the next play is ours now, and there are still things we need to do before we have a hope of stopping him. Do you have any idea where to start?"

"I've been thinking a great deal about something Edward said...That very frequently, the cause of the world's destruction has been Marius wiring it with too many high-powered explosives for it to sustain itself when they all went off near-simultaneously. I truly feel there's a good chance he's already done it, so we need to find and dismantle those explosives. Can I count on your support, or should I assign it to the Guards?"

For a long moment, Verdot was quiet, but then he said, "I'll send a couple of mine to look into that while doing other tasks in various areas. Is there anywhere I should prioritize?"

The woman sighed faintly and gave a small smile. "I'd like to say 'here', but this is the place where he's most likely to notice something wrong in his system. Let's start with the other continents, any order you like, and work towards Midgar from there."

"I'll take care of it, then." He then paused and added softly, "Thank you for trusting me with something so important after everything I've done."

"I was never your enemy, Verdot, and you were never mine," she answered, turning to face him as her husband and the Restrictors left the room below. "And knowing what really happened, it makes a difference, to us both. It's for exactly that reason that I know I can trust you."

Verdot was silent for a moment again, then gave a small nod and turned to go. "I'll let you know when it's safe to leave this room," he said as he used the stairs to leave. The elevator was shut down from the control room side; only Lady Shinra could unlock it when she was ready to go as well.

"Thank you, Verdot," she agreed just before he disappeared from view.