A/N: The next poll is now up! If you're on mobile, switching your device to 'desktop mode' on FFN will let you see the poll on my profile page so you can vote!

The poll will be open until I need to make a new poll. There are 10 options, 4 which involve others arriving on the Catalyst Array or Salvation's Hands Gaia and 6 which aren't related to Catalyst Array. I would appreciate voters picking at least 1 non-CA option (of 3 votes). You can vote or not, but all votes are appreciated! Please at least check out what's there—you may see something you like. This time, I'm going to see how things go if it's not a blind poll—everyone will be able to see the votes at any time.

Also, fyi, I'm working on a Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic which is already registered to be posted, so I didn't feel a need to include it in the list of options. You can check out my profile page for a list of stories being posted and ones in the works.

To recap the results of the past polls:

The first poll on which direction to take my writing focus came out to two other polls:

The "Original" Ed/Omega (15 votes) and the "Dimensions" Ed/Omega (6 votes) on another world options formed the next poll, on which world/s readers would like to see Ed and the crew arrive on. It's now closed.

The other three options with votes—something not related to Catalyst Array (5 votes) and people from another world landing on the Catalyst Array Gaia (4 votes) or the Salvation's Hands Gaia (3 votes)—formed the third poll, which is still available for voting.

The second poll on which world Ed and the crew would land on resulted in these top options (includes late votes in reviews):

1) "Dimensions" Omega to "Earth" (FMA:B/manga) with 9 votes (Is being written!)

2) "Dimensions" Omega to Azeroth (World of Warcraft) with 6 votes (Might be written at some point.)

3) "Original" Omega to Earth (Harry Potter) with 6 votes (Might be written at some point.)

4) "Original" Omega to Remnant (RWBY) with 5 votes (Likely won't be written, but we'll see.)

5) "Original" Omega to Middle Earth (Lord of the Rings) with 5 votes (Likely won't be written, but we'll see.)

All other options were lower than these, so probably won't be written. The only story I can guarantee will be written is the top vote. Thank you for your help, everyone! I don't have a posting date for it yet, but when it's ready, I'll post a notice in the other CA series paths to let you know.

Sorry for the really long A/N, and on with the story!

Compounding

Zack had just gotten back to Headquarters via helicopter from Junon, only to see it looking oddly empty and shut down suspiciously early. His first stop was to drop off the three packages and his report with Lazard, so made his way down to the man's office, where a look through the open door wasn't encouraging. It wasn't because the office was empty, but because the man looked both exhausted and pained as he sat in his desk chair limply, eyes closed.

"Um...Are you okay, Sir?" he asked the man worriedly.

Lazard's eyes opened and ordinary blue eyes met Mako-blue blankly for a moment before the man blinked and asked, "You just returned from the other continent, Fair?"

"Yeah," he agreed, dropping the three sealed sacks at his feet. "Where do you want these delivered to? And what's wrong?"

With a faintly amused smile, the SOLDIER Director pulled his chair up to his desk and began doing something which apparently included moving something onto an external disc. As he worked, he said, "It would be much easier to show you rather than trying to explain. Since the whole farce of a tournament was publicly aired, a copy you can watch at your leisure is easy enough to give you—though, I will warn you to set aside a good six hours or so to watch the recording. I'll have those packages sent to the Science Department—you can just leave them there. But Zack, how did you target two more of them?"

"It's all in my report, but it was mostly chance and eyewitness accounts of strange monster activity," Zack replied evenly. "That's also why I felt it was best if I asked for more time."

"And no doubt, extra time with your family was a beneficial side-effect," Lazard agreed in mild amusement, and Zack chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, there's that, too. But with the locations of these three, plus the one Commander Rhapsodos found, is it enough to start forming a pattern?" the Second asked.

"To 'start' one, certainly," the older blond snorted. "The bigger question is actually how much of a reliable direction those will give us. For now, everyone has the night off on the President's orders, so feel free to go do whatever you like until morning. Here's the recording." As he said the last, he took the disc, placed it in a protective case, and offered it to Zack. "Make sure you find a safe place for it so we have one permanent record no one can touch once you've watched it. Your report?"

Zack pulled the folded papers out from one of his uniform pouches and offered them to Lazard as he took the offered disc. Once the older man had the papers and the younger had the disc, Zack quickly moved the disc to the same pouch he'd taken the papers from. "Do I need to report in tomorrow morning, or just scan the mission boards unless I get a specific mission request from you?" he asked as he returned to the door, nudging the bags out of the way of it a bit.

"Do as usual," Lazard replied as he began both photocopying and scanning the papers the black haired man had given him.

"Later, then," the Second grinned, then left the room and headed to the floor where his room was. However, as he stepped onto the elevator, he saw Angeal in it, a grocery bag over one arm, and made an instant decision.

"Sir, could I speak with you privately for a bit?" he asked the older man.

Angeal blinked at him in mild surprise, then asked, "What about?"

"Something that came up while I was away on my most recent mission," Zack replied, knowing the man would refuse if it was about the mission itself. And technically, he was telling the truth, regardless, because what he wanted to discuss wasn't in his mission report.

"If you don't mind it being in Genesis' apartment—and him knowing it by extension—we can have a chat about it now," Angeal offered. "Otherwise, I'll check my schedule in the morning and call you to let you know when you can drop by."

"Sure, now's good, I don't mind," Zack agreed. It was sensitive, but not so sensitive no one else could hear it, especially since he'd already worked out what he had to edit out, anyway.

The man nodded, and a few moments later, they got off on the floor above Zack's, where both Commanders had their rooms. When they turned the corner down the hall, they could see Sephiroth standing at a door a ways down, hand raised as though he was about to knock, but had hesitated. Zack saw Angeal frown faintly and pick up his pace, and as they were approaching, the General turned to face them.

"What's the matter, Sephiroth?" Angeal asked when they were in easy speaking distance.

"...How is he doing?" the silver haired man asked almost hesitantly.

"No offense, but—why do you care? I know your opinion of him, and it's not a nice one," Angeal replied, and Zack stared back and forth between the two, wondering what was going on. Whose door had they stopped in front of?

Sephiroth sighed faintly and turned back to look at the door as he said, "I've been wrong about a lot of things in regards to him. That so-called tournament pushed him to his limit, and I'm surprised he stayed aware long enough to answer the text he got or make his way back here. I was worried about knocking and waking him needlessly if he was sleeping, so I didn't right away. So, how is he?"

"I don't know if he's sleeping, but he's definitely tired," Angeal replied. "Nero actually—freaked him out pretty badly, so if he's managed any real sleep, it was probably not sound. I'm staying over tonight to make sure he'll at least get fed. For now, that's all I know."

The younger man nodded, glanced over at Zack, then said, "Since it seems you have other company to deal with as well, I'll head back to my own apartment for the evening and see how he's doing tomorrow." Sephiroth gave a wave and headed down the hall to another door not too far away.

"Um...?" Zack began, feeling like he wanted to ask a hundred questions, but not sure how well they'd be received.

"We were talking about Genesis," Angeal said in faint amusement. "This is his apartment, and where we're going to be having our discussion. Let's get inside so I can put the food away until I need to prepare it."

It half surprised Zack that apparently Angeal's company card opened Genesis' door, but the other half of him somehow thought it was right—it was common knowledge the Commanders were old friends. They stepped inside and Angeal immediately headed for the fridge while Zack took a quick look around, immediately cringing at all the LOVELESS posters plastered across the red haired man's walls. It was more like a collage of black, white, and red, only sometimes broken up by the pale tan of the walls, and he wondered how the man stayed sane. Then he realized a lot of the posters were actually not attached properly to the walls—many hung by just a single piece of tape.

Genesis himself lay on one couch, and Zack was again shocked, this time by how every piece of furniture in the room was a different color, and so was every rug. He was left feeling a sensation he referred to as 'What the Hellfire?' A red and gold blanket was wrapped around the man on the couch as he laid on his side facing the room, his eyes closed and brow creased. It looked like he had on a black shirt, but his jacket and most of his black SOLDIER uniform were thrown over one of the armchairs. The door was suddenly thrown open so hard it hit the wall, causing all three men to jump, and Scarlet ran in—and stopped to stare at the room.

"Genesis..." she began warningly.

The red haired man's tired gaze focused on her in vague amusement as he commented, "I could have done without being scared half to death, my Lady Red." The address—and even the executive's presence there—made Zack gape in shock.

"Cut the crap! What in Hellfire were you thinking, doing that?" she glared, motioning around at the room. Zack was at a loss as to what she meant.

"...Um...Familiarity?" he asked, and Zack heard Angeal sigh, even as Scarlet clenched her fists.

"Familiarity," she repeated in a cold tone. "You're three quarters dead, and you thought it would be a good idea to waste energy you don't have on something both inane and pointless?"

"...Yes?" Genesis replied, though it sounded more like a question. Zack felt a hand on his elbow, making him glance over at Angeal as the older man dragged him away from the (still open) door and into the kitchen, pushing him down into one of the chairs at the purple wood table. Seriously, purple wood existed?

A moment later, the woman drew his attention back to her as she growled, "Fine, I warned you what would happen if you ever tried a stunt like this again." In the next moment, she was tearing down the half-hung posters, ripping them up, crumpling them into balls, and throwing them out into the hall. Genesis only had the strength to sigh in defeat and roll over to face away from the destruction of his posters.

"Um...Is this normal?" Zack asked as Angeal sat across from him at the table. Every chair around it was a different color. Why was everything so mis-matched here?

"Normal enough," the other SOLDIER replied in wry amusement.

"...Should we be letting her do that?"

"Would you really like to try to stop her?"

"...Okay, good point. What do we do in the meantime?"

"Wait for her to run out of steam. We'll figure it out then."

Zack just shook his head in amazement for a minute as he watched her tear apart over half of what was on the walls. While she was working, he suddenly faced Angeal and asked, "So why is she even here, and why does she care?"

"She and Genesis have been friends almost as long as we've been here. She adds an element of logic to his life I can't give him, and he makes her more human, so it's beneficial to them both, but more than that...As they got to know one another, they truly bonded. I know most siblings don't get along well, even if they care about each other, but those two are like the siblings who were close, who cared and got along well. The longer they're together, the deeper it grows. If anything, I'm surprised it took her this long to get here, since his state was public knowledge," Angeal explained.

"That's the tournament I keep hearing about?" Zack asked, and the older man nodded. "Lazard gave me a disc recording to watch. I guess I shouldn't put it off too long, even though I'm not usually into tournaments."

"This one is a must, though," Angeal sighed. "It changed the whole company dynamic."

"...Oh." Zack had truly not realized it was so important, despite the Director having given him a copy and effectively ordering him to watch it, then hide the copy.

With a final-sounding huff, Scarlet finished tossing the destroyed posters out into the hall, closed the door, and dusted off her hands. She then marched back over to Genesis and stood staring down at him with her hands on her hips for a minute. Finally, she sighed and sat on the coffee table nearest Genesis, reaching out to rest her hand on his shoulder as she asked, "Look at me, Magic Poet?"

After a pause, he rolled over to face her, so her hand moved to his arm, the one now nearest her. "What?" the red haired man asked, clearly upset.

"That was hurting you, and you know it. What made you think you should hurt yourself like that?" she asked him, gaze and tone shockingly soft.

For a long minute, Genesis was quiet, but then he sighed, and explained, "I'm going to have to kill him, Scarlet."

"Why?" she asked with a puzzled frown. "Whatever you did obviously knocked him out, so why can't you just keep—"

"That wasn't me," he cut her off. She stared, eyes wide, and he went on in a pained tone, "They have mind control chips, and the Restrictor nearest him used it to forcibly knock him out before what I did would have killed him. I tried to—just make it cleanse him—but he's too—too—Hellfire, I don't have the words for it! He's just too far gone to be able to be cleansed and given another chance! He's still a child and I'm going to have to kill him the next time, when there's no Restrictor to bring him back under control, or when the Restrictors don't bother!"

"...Oh, Genesis..." Scarlet sighed, leaning forward to wrap her arms around him in a hug. Even though it was silent tears the man wept on her shoulder, Zack somehow could just tell he was indeed crying.

But the words shocked him like nothing else, so he turned to look at Angeal, who looked pained and terse. He couldn't bring himself to say anything, and since the other man was apparently equally uncommunicative just then, they just sat in silence and waited for the other two to calm down. Though, he actually wasn't able to sit still for so long and began quietly doing squats beside the table to use up energy while waiting. Angeal stared at him for a minute when he started, then just shook his head as though trying to clear it and returned his gaze to the two in the living room.

After a bit, Genesis rolled onto his back with Scarlet sprawled on him, and they both apparently fell asleep like that. Several silent minutes later, Angeal sighed tiredly and said, "I daresay they—or Scarlet at least—will wake pretty quickly, so we should talk now. What did you need to ask me about?"

It took Zack a moment to register the question and back-track in his memory to recall what he'd wanted to talk about. Returning to his seat at the table, he said, "Right...On my mission, I was back in the same area as the time I was sent after the pack of Cerberuses. I know the Cosmo Canyon and Gongaga area well—I grew up in Gongaga—but I saw a strange haze in the air. I guess it wasn't really a 'haze', but sort of like a dome or film? It's hard to describe. I was asking someone I know out there if she knew what was causing it, and she said something about anchors. She also told me a few of the townspeople had just randomly died since it came up. There was no disease or illness, no attack or injury, not even careless drug abuse or drinking—they just didn't wake up one morning."

He paused to draw in a breath as Angeal's eyes widened in shock. "I'm not sure there's a link, but when I took that thing out of the ground, the one like what the Commander found in the mountains south of here, the haze weakened to be almost non-existent. I think there's a good chance there's something to it, because it also happened in the other two places where I took them out, where similar effects had been happening. The sky around Midgar is so polluted we can't see the haze from below, but I could see it faintly from above because I knew what to look for, but in theory, it should be thicker here with only one of the nearby stones removed, if those are the cause."

"You should have reported all of this to Lazard," Angeal said bluntly.

Zack sighed and answered, "Not when I have an inside source who told me the only thing saving us is primarily the Mako in our bodies, and secondarily the Jenova cells we're infused with. And the fact that the being causing the haze is currently targeting the other continent, which is part of the reason it's not having much effect here."

"...What?" the older man frowned in confusion.

"We don't have time to dally or guess, but if I just blurt out what I know—which is three quarters classified information only the top people in the Company have clearance to know—I'd be endangering both myself and my source," the Second clarified. "I know it's important, more than anyone. But going at it with information I can safely share isn't good enough, and telling more risks having the opposite reaction. Especially when the one doing it turns out to be Jenova, a being which isn't even 'alive' to the Science Department. And then there's the issue of what to do with the stones we find, because bringing them all here just guarantees she can kill us fast unless we have a way to destroy them. I'd need the Science Department's help to find a way to do that, which again means revealing way more than is safe to reveal."

"You don't need the Science Department to destroy them," Genesis sighed, making both start and turn to look at him and Scarlet. The woman had sat up on the edge of the couch, giving Zack a shrewd look he didn't like, but the red haired man was still laying down after having rolled back onto his side. "Ed can destroy them, and so can I. If they're as dangerous as you're indicating, I'll gladly go around and track them down to eliminate them. Once I've recovered, of course."

"How is it that Jenova is somehow orchestrating this when she's supposedly in stasis?" Scarlet asked curiously.

After a long moment to assess the fact that he couldn't actually hide anything from an executive who had heard the problem right from his lips, he sighed and said, "According to my source, she's only physically in a kind of stasis, but not only is that an incomplete stasis which still allows her to release bits of her genetic data into the air to influence others around her, it's also got no affect on her mind or intrinsic power and energy. Since she's the one who created the monsters we have now, she can easily control them from great distances with the awareness and abilities she has now, which is why the monsters are the ones setting the stones into place.

"Then, because that's her crystallized energy—her version of our world's Mako Crystals—she can channel her powers through them to cause things to happen. Those are largely simple things right now—a sudden death or more aggressiveness in monsters and people around the stones—but it's possible she'll learn to do more complex things, because her goal is to destroy this planet and every living thing on it. Why it's being done this way, I don't know, and neither does my source, since by Jenova's past actions here, it would be a lot more likely for her to infect people and turn them into instruments of destruction. This way is a lot more subtle, though, and could easily be missed if the Commander hadn't actually seen them burying something and thought to dig it up."

"Shiva, sounds like we're in a right mess," Scarlet sighed tiredly, giving her head a shake. "But ironically, I think Hojo might side with us in keeping this from the President, since SOLDIER just got side-lined by Deepground, and not only is he pissed by his project being canceled, but by the fact that he doesn't have clearance to access Deepground's experimental data."

"SOLDIER's being canceled?" Zack asked in alarm, noting how the other two men were as surprised and worried as he was. "Why didn't Lazard tell me that?"

"It's not 'being canceled' as in 'shut down entirely'," she replied. "Those who are already in it are staying, and they'll still take SOLDIER candidates until the currently-made infusions run out. No new infusions will be made, however, so the last round of new recruits will happen within the next year, and only because Hojo has all night to make more infusions before everything's taken away in the morning. SOLDIER will then just slowly be allowed to dwindle until nothing but Deepground exists. I don't think I've ever seen Doctor Crescent agree with him on anything before, though, let alone offer to help, and she just did both to get more infusions made. They may even get a second year's worth of new recruits out of the deal."

"So right now, nothing is really changing?" Angeal asked. Scarlet nodded, so he turned to Zack and asked, "In that case, your problem—I still think you need to let Lazard know, with or without support from the executives."

"I'd be more inclined to talk with Ed about it," Genesis put in, making the others look at him in confusion.

"Who?" the Second asked blankly.

"The Guards' new stray—or, well, not so new anymore, but still their newest one," the red haired SOLDIER replied in faint amusement. "He was going by Auryn until recently, when he decided it was okay to be known by his actual name again. He's a well-spring of knowledge, both esoteric and scientific, and he apparently knows a whole lot about what's going to happen and how to fix it. Since the stones aren't a one-off, he might know something about them, and—as much as I normally deal with Hounds, Lady Shinra is known to be a lot more discreet in getting things done. She'll have a much better chance of keeping a shard hunt under the radar than anyone else, and won't even bother to question your source if Ed correlates it. And all she has to do is mention him to her husband if he gets wind of anything, and no one would look further."

"That's true," Scarlet agreed dryly. "If anything goes in a direction the President doesn't like, pinning it on Ed normally means it becomes self-explanatory and stops there. The President even had the gall to blame my having made the building rock that one day on Ed having been in my office."

"No offense, but by your own admission, it was. Indirectly, at least," Genesis told her in amusement, then yawned.

"But he didn't know Ed had shared with me crucial data to my project just then, and I never told him," Scarlet answered, giving her head a shake. "It only took him two days to start making that poor boy into his go-to scapegoat for everything, and that's not okay. Nevertheless, it means the President literally won't even think of an alternate source, and by the sounds of the situation, we actually need to use that to our advantage just now."

"I'd feel bad if someone else got into trouble, though," Zack sighed, scratching the side of his head and running his fingers back through his spiky hair. His gaze focused on the ceiling as he took a few moments to think about what the two had said, but then he blinked and looked back at them. "You mean it literally won't matter."

"It won't," Scarlet agreed. "You could bluntly tell him who your actual source was and he'd still pin it on Ed."

"...How could anyone do something like that?" the younger man stared.

"He's a willfully blind control freak," Scarlet replied with a derisive snort. "And it's common knowledge that Ed knows things no one else should know—a whole lot of them. That makes him very easy to blame, and being able to blame someone without fail—someone who probably does have the crucial information regardless—makes him very happy because then he doesn't have to think about it. Mostly, it's just helping him maintain an illusion of control he doesn't have."

"In Gongaga, someone like that would be defined as psychotic," Zack stated.

"Zack, I think everyone defines someone like that as psychotic," Angeal answered in amusement.

"Okay...So why does he run the world, then?"

The younger man's shrewd question made all of them stare, trade looks, then sigh. Finally, Scarlet started giggling, and Genesis said wryly, "Because 'sanity' isn't what currently runs the world, money does, and he has a lot of it. The only way that would change is if the whole world changed the system it runs by so money's no longer a factor."

"Or trade and barter. Exchange in general is a problem because it means goods have to have values, and everyone pretty much goes for the highest price they can get from someone else," Scarlet added. "So the only real option for 'sanity' to rule is if the whole world stops being insane and stops focusing on placing exchange values."

"...Is that possible?" Zack asked in surprise.

"Just now, we have enough problems to deal with, but I don't see why it couldn't be possible. It's just that one person alone can't make such a system work—everyone has to participate in doing so," Angeal said. "Now, was that everything? Genesis needs to rest."

Zack paused for a moment, then asked, "If you want me to share this with Ed, where do I find him?"

"Kariya's apartment," Genesis answered with another yawn. "I'll text you the number so you don't lose it—I'm pretty sure they're not there right now."

"Sure, thanks," Zack agreed, rising. "I'll head out, then. Thanks for talking with me." They waved him off and he headed out, feeling both relieved and confused.