Release of Tension

Ed was annoyed to have Tseng sprawled on his couch, apparently half-asleep, and Genesis sitting in one chair as he rubbed his eyes. It was late evening, and he'd been working on the arrays Verde would need when Tseng had shown up, checked to make sure Yufi wasn't around, then took off his suit jacket and settled in, followed about half an hour later by the SOLDIER. Since neither seemed inclined to talk to him, and since Tseng was apparently ignoring Genesis' presence and not trying to hide behind his suit, Ed just went back to drawing arrays. It didn't stop him from being annoyed. Elicia apparently sensed that, and was draped around his neck, purring into his ear.

Finally, Genesis said, "I didn't want to believe I'd really have to use those arrays to kill Nero, but even switching some of them out to be closer to Cleanse...It still very nearly killed him if the Restrictor hadn't ordered him to pass out."

Ed looked up at the man and replied, "He's infused with stagnant Mako. Even if his mind could theoretically be saved, his body will be destroyed by default by anything which would actually stop his power from working."

Sighing, the older man asked in a pained tone, "There's really no other way?"

For a minute, the blond was silent, but then he said, "There would be one other possibility, assuming I could get close enough to him to touch him, and I'm not sure what it would actually create or whether or not Minerva would even let it work."

"What does that mean?" the red haired man asked with a deep, puzzled frown.

Shaking his head, the younger man offered, "I found very early on that I could compress the Mako in a person's body into a Materia shard outside it, reverting them to an ordinary, un-enhanced human. But, I've only used that on people with normal or refined Mako in their bodies, not stagnant Mako, and I don't think stagnant Mako can form into any Materia other than the Protomateria, which is the only known method of forcibly controlling a being called Chaos. With its exposure to Nero, what it is would change, and by default, it couldn't create a second Protomateria. Also, if Minerva knew it would create something purely destructive, she'd prevent it from working, and Nero would end up dead—very painfully and disturbingly—regardless."

"My method would have been 'painful and disturbing', too," Genesis sighed.

"The arrays I actually gave you are both instant and painless, if shocking," Ed replied flatly, and Genesis lifted his gaze to him in shock. "My method, if it rebounded, would rip his physical body apart and scatter it. And it would be exceedingly painful for the one experiencing it until they fell unconscious, died, or the reaction stopped. Trust me, those kinds of rebounds hurt. And that's on top of what the rebound would do to me as the caster. Would you rather something painless we already know won't rebound onto you, or would you rather risk mass suffering on the parts of two people?"

For a long minute, the other man was quiet, but then he sighed faintly and nodded. "I see your point." Again, he fell into silence, so Ed went back to drawing. When he finished the array he was working on, Genesis asked, "Have my wings ever been streaked with white and black before, in your vast knowledge?"

Shaking his head as he went to work on the next array, the blond told him plainly, "I've only ever seen you with dove gray or black wings not quite as dark as Sephiroth's. You obviously have the capacity to have white in your wings to arrive at dove gray, it just never happened before. And to be honest, I think the coloring is partly reflective of your genetics and partly of your mental state, due to the change in color they experienced in the first place."

"Mental state?" Genesis blinked. "It couldn't be genetics if it could change."

"It could if different parts of your genetics were active at the time they first emerged," Ed answered plainly, looking up at him to meet his eyes. "There were two commonalities. If you stayed sane long enough, and by extension got external genetics added to your system to fix your body's degeneration, your wings only emerged after that and were dove gray. If, on the other hand, you never got that fix and went insane, your wings were black. This time, they went streaked, but this is the first time you activated them before either getting infusions or going insane."

The red haired man huffed as Tseng started chuckling. "Keep your thoughts to yourself, Turk," Genesis pouted at the chuckling Wutain.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. Ed is shockingly open with you," Tseng replied, rolling over and sitting up on the couch to look at the two.

"Does that mean you're ready to tell me why you're here?" Ed asked him dryly.

To both Ed's and Genesis' surprise, the Wutain sighed and gave his head a shake. "I needed to relax, and with my sister being away from the city, I can't exactly go to her to do so."

Ed's brow rose into his hairline as Genesis snorted and said pointedly, "That's hardly a reason, just an excuse."

"Especially since you could apparently also go to Ansha if all you wanted to do was 'relax'," Ed added. "So, why are you here, really, Tseng?"

"...Ruluf reported back after talking with Sirra earlier today," he said quietly, obviously relenting. "The Wutains in the city largely didn't leave when the Emperor called all his forces back, so there's a good chance they've broken away from Wutai entirely and are operating as a mercenary company with plans to form a new Empire. Here. If what you said earlier about Crescent Unit is true, these are the same ones who would kill me if they knew about me. And if they take over here, they'll know about me. Is there really no way to stop them before they attack?"

"If we know where they've gone to ground, it would be possible to launch an attack on them there, but that's assuming the hunt for Fuhito goes well enough to be able to interfere in Sirra's mission," Ed offered.

The man sighed and rubbed his upper arms with his hands, like he was cold. "Which we can't do right now, but we can't disregard the possibility of being able to strike first. That doesn't stop them from doing harm in the meantime."

"No offense meant, but why does this mean so much to you?" Genesis asked in surprise and worry. "I mean, I get that it's bad for Midgar, and especially for the civilians and those in the Slums, but your reaction's too strong to just be reacting to the harm they could do in general."

Tseng's eyes darted around for a moment, then rested on Ed's pleadingly, so the blond sighed and told Genesis, "The Wutains here now are the same ones who tortured Tseng's family to death when he was ten. He only survived the torture because he wasn't quite dead yet when they threw his body in the ocean, and the Turks fished him out of it and got him medical care before he died."

After a shocked pause, Genesis muttered, "Well, that's morbid." He paused, then lifted his gaze to Tseng's pained one, saying, "They'll do it again, and not just to you, but to a lot of others as well." The Wutain nodded, and Genesis sighed. "One more layer to the danger. Why not?"

"There are enough forces here to handle them if they try an invasion, even one which AVALANCHE is bolstering," Ed answered. "Even at half-strength or less, this city can't be overthrown that way—the Turks and SOLDIERs won't let it. And with there being so many more Turks here than there've ever been before, that'll hold even more true. Even without my help in the fight, though there is something I would do to help, my mental state aside."

"Which is?" Genesis blinked in surprise.

Ed gave him a wryly amused look and said, "Way back, I'd had a being—kind of hitch-hiking on me whose Limit Break was to summon every Summon I had slotted all at once to attack or heal or whatever. Ever since it lost its temper and used me to do that the very first time, I've been able to summon multiple Summons at one time. I'd start calling all my most powerful ones out to help stop them and heal people, which would easily be one of every existing Summon, including ones you don't have registered in your systems yet."

Both men's eyes widened, then Tseng commented, "That must be a very handy skill to have."

"Yes, sometimes," Ed agreed. "It has definite uses. But frankly, even though the Wutain invaders may get a chance to attack and do some damage, they aren't the real threat—that's the President and Fuhito."

Tseng smiled faintly as he settled back against the back of the couch, and Genesis just shook his head in bemusement. Ed went back to his arrays for a bit, wanting to get them done that night—he knew them so well already that it didn't take him long to draw them out. Even though he was somewhat pressed for time, he felt good just being able to draw them out and know someone was going to use them. Maybe, he'd get the chance to explain things better to Verde when he got back from the trip he'd be taking with Zack and Aeris. But still...So many Jenova Crystals...What was going on?

As he finished drawing an array, Genesis commented suddenly, "Could you switch out the target controls for the assessment codes in the Elemental and Added Effect Materias? Since there's no actual target other than 'someone touching you', and the assessment needs to be tied directly into that, putting them together in one array might make them interact properly."

"What?" Ed asked in confusion as he looked up at the red haired man.

"Those poisoned spikes of yours," Genesis clarified.

"There are too many coding requirements to do that, though," Ed frowned. "Three whole sub-arrays manage the assessment functions of those two Materias. That's why nothing was working—too many pieces were missing. I'd need to transpose all three arrays to make it work."

"Um..." Tseng began, making the other two look at him in surprise. He then said, "I don't think those spikes count as a weapon, I think they count as gear—as armor. In which case, the only assessment functions they need are the ones for armor."

"...What?" Ed blinked in surprise as Genesis looked thoughtful.

"Yes, they poison someone who touches them, but you don't actually hold them in your hands or use them to attack. They're a passive item which stays on you, like an armor piece or a bracer," Tseng explained. "I don't know much about your arrays, but I think your problem is that you've been treating them like a literal weapon when they aren't one."

"That would actually make sense," Genesis agreed. "And it never worked before because we kept using the wrong sub-array, the one for reaction when in a weapon. Trying it with the armor one might work, then, and after that, it would just be the fine-tuning." He looked at Ed and asked, "So that would mean what I said before would be applied to just one of the three arrays you meant, but the opposite one from the one we were trying it with before."

"I'll think on that while I keep working on these arrays, then, and we can compare notes when I'm done. If you want, grab a paper and pen and work on what you think it would be for that one," Ed agreed.

"You can't stop to work on it?" Genesis asked in amusement, but still reached for the indicated paper and pen to begin drawing.

"These are for Lady Shinra, not myself," the blond answered dryly, tapping the small stack. "And I don't have long to get them to her with some instructions for the Mage who's going to have to cast them with no training in how to cast free-hand."

"Oh..." both other men stared, then Genesis went to work and Tseng laid down again to settle in.

Seeing how both of them were apparently making themselves fixtures there, he just sighed faintly and went back to work, even as Elicia giggled into his ear.

FoWD

By the time morning came around, both Tseng and Genesis were still at his place, and he was annoyed enough to show it, especially when he was woken by Yufi jumping on Tseng and the older Wutain retaliating by smacking her hard enough for it to echo. He'd have truly been worried if Yufi's reply, "Ow!" hadn't been followed by her laughter and Tseng's grumbling. What made him get out of bed in shock was hearing Genesis ask, "Holy Alexander, how does anyone get any sleep around here with her here?" When he saw Genesis lounging in one of the chairs, that was when the shock turned to annoyance.

"Really?" he asked, making Yufi run to him to hug him as she declared, "Victory!"

"What victory?" Genesis asked in confusion as he covered a yawn with one hand.

"She managed to 'surprise' me," Tseng sighed faintly. "Though I don't know that being woken from sleep counts."

"It does!" Yufi burst out. "It so does! I've caught you in your bed and sleeping before, too, and never got to surprise you, so it counts!"

"She's got you there, Tseng," Ed smirked, and Tseng rolled his eyes—then suddenly sat up and stared at Ed in shock. "What?" the blond asked, suddenly apprehensive.

"...You've never made an expression like that before, not since we found you," Tseng answered, still looking surprised.

"What?" he asked again, still not grasping what he was getting at.

"You smirked," Genesis answered in amusement. "Now that I think about it, he's right—I've never seen that particular expression on your face before. It looks good on you." At his impish grin, Yufi giggled and added her own agreement.

In surprise, Ed reached up to touch his face, then blinked and muttered, "Damn, it's been a long time since I've smirked...I never thought it would feel natural after so long..."

"Does that mean we can go out today and explore?" Elicia asked eagerly, jumping up to hold onto his shoulder.

"Yeah! That would be awesome!" Yufi exclaimed eagerly. "Please?"

Genesis and Tseng traded looks, only to be interrupted as Kariya's annoyed voice asked from behind Ed, "You two spent the whole night here? What gives?"

Again, Tseng and Genesis traded looks, then Tseng bluntly told Kariya, "We stayed because we felt like it, and Ed never bothered to tell us to leave."

"Not that I'd expect him to when he still usually doesn't tell us when something's bothering him," Kariya pointed out, still looking very annoyed. "Aren't you glad I decided to come over here before starting breakfast, otherwise you'd have nothing to eat?"

"That, I appreciate," Tseng agreed with a smile. His gaze went to Ed and Elicia as he said, "I have work today which is already scheduled, so I can't go with you if you go wandering. SOLDIERs tend to have more free time unless assigned an urgent mission, so maybe Genesis could go with you if you decide you want to explore?"

"Sure thing—I didn't have any plans for today anyway," Genesis agreed.

"I could go with you, too!" Yufi chirped.

"Aren't you supposed to be in training?" he asked her dryly.

"I was told I had today off," she answered him, sticking her tongue out at him. "You can even ask Cissy!"

"...Please don't call her Cissy..." Tseng sighed in a pained tone. Yufi just stuck her tongue out at him again.

Kariya sighed faintly and shook his head as he asked, "So what about Shelke, Yufi?"

"She can come with us, too!" Yufi promptly replied with a huge grin. "Right, Shelke?"

"Yup! I'll be there soon!" the girl's cheerful voice replied from...Yufi showed them the game system for the Battle Pets game she had been keeping at her waist, and which was now in her hand.

"...What just happened?" Genesis blinked in surprise.

"Oh, you could already talk with typed messages on Battle Pets, but Shelke turned ours into phones so we can just talk to each other," Yufi grinned. "So instead of using my PHS, I just talk with her like this."

Kariya held a hand to his face and muttered, "Was getting her a Battle Pets game really a good idea?"

"Yes," Ed replied dryly.

Lowering his hand, Kariya asked, "You do realize Yufi, Genesis, and Shelke just decided you're going out after breakfast, right?" When Ed's eyes widened in surprise, he added, "Didn't think so."

That time, as Yufi giggled, they could also hear Shelke giggling with her. And then Elicia added, "Yay! This will be fun!" Genesis and Kariya snorted, Tseng's lips twitched in amusement, and Ed sighed.

"I guess it's been taken out of my hands," Ed muttered, then gave Kariya a pitiful look. "Wish me luck."

"For what? The 'going out' part or the 'dealing with Yufi and Shelke' part?" the man asked in amusement.

"Both," Ed replied dryly, producing more giggles from the girls in question.

"I think you'll be fine," Tseng told him with a faintly amused smile.

"Thanks," the blond answered him in a dry tone.

To his surprise, Tseng rose and moved over to him to rest a hand on his shoulder, meeting his gaze evenly as he said gently, "Ed, you haven't seen how much your state of mind has improved lately, with the latest round of therapy and Elicia's addition to your life. The rest of us—we have. I honestly feel you'll be all right, even if something unexpected or dire comes up while you're out. Now, you're the only one who needs to believe that."

Ed suddenly swallowed harshly as tears came to his eyes, and the Wutain reached out to pull him into a hug. The surge of emotion which came from hearing someone else so sure of his ability to manage was mind-boggling, and even though the tears didn't fall, he still needed time to compose himself, face pressed into Tseng's shoulder as he did. It was only once the surge of emotion had mostly passed that he realized he was letting Tseng hug him. Tseng! His brain broke for a moment before he gave a weak chuckle and pushed back to look up at the man.

"I think you're right if you really were just able to hug me without getting a reaction," he admitted in wry amusement.

After a moment, Tseng smiled as well. "I'm glad."

"Okay, enough sappy stuff!" Yufi suddenly pronounced. "Let's get some food and go exploring!"

Everyone was suddenly laughing, even Tseng and Edward, then they made their way to Kariya's apartment so he could prepare the meal. Shelke got there soon after he started cooking, so he made enough for her as well. It didn't take long for him to finish and set out the meal, or for everyone to finish eating, the first one to leave the table being Ed to go shower and change. Tseng left around the time he did to get to the Turks' office for a project Verdot wanted him to work on, and the others just sat around and talked or played games while they waited for Ed.

When he returned, ready to go out, Elicia returned to his shoulder and Genesis led the way out while Shelke and Yufi practically ran circles around them. For the most part, the outing was peaceful (or as peaceful as it could be with two energetic girls), and the only issue they ran into was when several training groups left their rooms at the same time, causing the group to lose sight of one another. Knowing he'd have to wait for the rush of people to stop before trying to find the others, Ed managed to make his way to a window nearby, down a side hall, and stood looking out at the ground below.

It was still shocking to him to realize he had raptor sight and could pick out the details of people on the street below. He saw a group of four SOLDIER Firsts heading back towards the building and could see their details so clearly that he knew the one in the lead was Angeal. Perversely, heading away from the building were Rufus and another Turk he recognized as Rude, and several paces behind them were Freyra and Illis. All of them were heading in the same direction. A space had been cleared to one side, and he could see Weiss and Rosso sparring there, surrounded by crowds of civilians and Shinra employees alike.

"You seem awfully genial to us," a woman's voice commented to him, and he looked to the side it had come from—to see Argento standing a few paces away and watching him with a puzzled expression. Elicia gave a little 'eep' and quickly scrambled back along the window rail to Ed's shoulder.

"You want to know why?" Ed asked her cautiously.

"I do, because any reports we have on you indicate that you don't do well with people like us," she answered.

His brow rose and he asked, "I thought Weiss said you weren't given information on me?"

"Collectively, 'we' weren't," Argento agreed. "But I'm one of the trainers, one of the ones who introduces new members to Deepground and how it functions. On the assumption that you would become one of us, I would need to train you. They couldn't leave me blind to that indefinitely."

She was always shrewd. That also never failed. Turning back to his view, he asked, "Do you know about my past and some of my reported abilities?"

"Like knowing things you shouldn't know?" she asked with a raised brow, her one good eye seeming vaguely amused. "Your knowledge base is in keeping with Leviathan's Blessing; however, you aren't actually showing any of the other signs of having it. I left the Restrictors to think that was what you had experienced, but I know your situation is something else. And it doesn't negate the fact that you don't do well with people like us."

Damn, she was really trying to unsettle him, wasn't she? Sighing, he agreed, "Yes, that. I've actually been one of Deepground three times before now, and many other times, actively fought against you. By all rights, I should be catatonic standing here with you right now." He paused and sighed again as he added, "But you and Weiss were always sane, and were never my enemies, with only one exception where Weiss went off the deep end, too. I have enough enemies, and enough people to fear, without adding people who have never willingly harmed me to the list, regardless of where you came from or where you've been for the last few years."

For several long moments, she was quiet, but then she asked softly, "Will you free us from our chains, then? If you know the truth, will you? Can you?"

His gaze lifted back to her single, Mako-blue, hopeful eye. "If I can find any way to deactivate those control chips, I'll do it. If we can get rid of the Restrictors, I'll do that, too. Those of you who can still be saved—I want to see you free, because you really are good people who can be something worthwhile in, helpful to, and part of this society, this world."

Her eyes widened in momentary shock, then she offered him a small smile. "I'll hope that time comes sooner rather than later, then. Thank you."

After a silent pause, Elicia said reverently, "Wow...That was—like, one of those 'sacred moments' Shelke told me about, right? It really felt like it!"

Both of the humans blinked, then giggled, only to be interrupted by Genesis calling, "Ed, there you are!" He ran up with the two younger girls, glanced at Argento, then asked, "You're all right, yes?"

"I'm fine. Great timing, by the way," Ed agreed in amusement, still wanting to laugh over Elicia's words. "Can we get something to eat please?"

"Would you like to try going out to a restaurant, or over to Angeal's so he and Tifa can feed you?" Genesis asked in reply, giving a nod to Argento, who schooled her expression to a neutral one before returning it.

"Tifa's cooking is awesome!" Yufi grinned. "If we can't go to a restaurant, that's good, too!"

"Yeah!" Shelke agreed happily.

Releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, Ed replied, "I think Angeal and Tifa are a safer bet just now."

With agreement from the others, Argento went her own way and the others all headed to the SOLDIER First floor to go to Angeal's for lunch.