A/N: Phoenix: Thank you for the review!

Twisting

For Angeal, the days following the explosions in Wutai City passed in a blur. He wasn't sure if it was a few days or a few weeks, and he spent that whole time in an ever-increasing degree of pain. Civilians needed care and the city needed to be cleaned up, things that couldn't be put off, and he wouldn't put them out for his own needs. In fact, the only thing he did remember clearly was a call from Genesis, and it only stood out so much because he shouldn't even have gotten one.

"Genesis? What's the matter?"

"On my end, nothing. But Angeal, you apparently have injuries that aren't closing?"

"Who told you something like that?"

"Let's not play that game, Ang. I'm not going to argue about it with you. The fact is, you have those injuries, and I know what they are and how to fix them—I went through this once before in the other lifetime I lived. I'll make it quick and simple. Our Jenova cells were dead cells, and any kind of injury to us could have caused a sudden mass die-off of cells known as degradation. That's what you have now. The fastest, easiest fix to it is for you to get a transfusion of blood from Seph—less than an ounce, even. He already knows because he and I had been trying to find a doctor who would do it without reporting back to Shinra. I daresay the doctors in Wutai would do so."

"But Gen, so many more people need help right now, and I can't take the doctors away from them. And why is this so important that you had to call me here?"

"I had to call you because it's what happened to me, it's what led to my own insanity, because the pain never stops, and I only had one small wound. We already talked about my insanity versus Jenova's versus Minerva's current state, so you know exactly what your fate will be if you don't get help. Soon."

"... … … ...I still have other things to get done, and at least the people who are near death need to no longer be before I could risk pulling a doctor away from them. Hopefully, that will be soon, but I can't promise to just go find a doctor right now."

"From here, I can't make you do anything more. But I really mean you can't afford to wait—the lives of the same people you're trying to save depend on it."

It had left him very unsettled, but there had still been plenty of work to do, so he'd taken his mind off it by focusing on the needed work. Zack had proven oddly sensitive to him and had automatically picked up the slack if he thought Angeal was a little weak or needed a short rest. The younger man had also been keeping an eye on both Delta and Halo (he spared a thought to hope Tyra was okay, since she'd disappeared sometime after they'd left the cave past Tamblin), seeing that they had food and whatever else they needed.

Halo had been staying close by his side, too, and he almost got the impression she was watching him with apprehension. While his first break in the search and rescue had given him the ability to wash and change his clothes, it hadn't changed his injuries and the benefits had been superficial. Burns weren't nice injuries at the best of times—some of the worst a person could get, actually—but to have ones which didn't heal and couldn't be tended was much worse. He got the impression that Halo was trying to heal his injuries, but if she was, it wasn't working, which probably worried her as much as it did him.

The worst part had been others gradually realizing his injuries from the first explosion weren't healing, and every time someone approached him with worried questions, he made up some excuse—fighting with still-heated metal—for the burns. When Sephiroth had done so, though, he'd just been tired and asked to be left alone to heal. The look the silver haired man had given him had almost sent him into a panic for reasons he wasn't sure he could grasp, something which maybe could have been fear of being thought of as weak.

In the end, all of those 'well-wishers' had led to him finding a place where he could be alone during some of his free time. And once again, he found himself wondering how long it had been. The pain of the burns had kept him from sleeping and his days and nights had drifted together, and things which should have told him how much time had passed were no better—sleep deprivation led to him being nearly incapable of reading and processing words and numbers. It was all he could do to read written orders, though at least those hadn't changed since the search and rescue had started. At times, even processing spoken words came slowly or not at all.

Hence another compelling reason to avoid people. And there was no better place than the top of the Da Chao Statue at night. Literally, the top. He had found a way up onto its head and sat down there, where even Halo couldn't get up to unless she flew, which she had apparently decided not to do just then—she was waiting on the hand below. Since Zack was still in the city—probably drinking with some of his other friends—and Delta was with him, that left him and Halo. The cold night air helped ease his burns a bit, but not enough that he'd be able to sleep, so he appreciated being isolated.

Then he happened to look down and saw Sephiroth there, looking up at him from beside Halo—and a minute later, the General had jumped up to land beside him. "Angeal?" the younger man asked quietly, truly looking worried. He didn't answer, hoping Sephiroth would go away, but he didn't. Instead, after a silence, he said, "You really need to come with me for a blood transfusion, otherwise we may very well lose you..."

With an annoyed look, the Commander replied, "I'm not so weak I need to take care away from civilians."

"None of whom are in the danger zone anymore. A doctor can afford to take the—no more than half an hour—needed to set up and perform the transfusion," Sephiroth shot back.

In annoyance, Angeal rose, intending to jump down as he said, "It's not needed."

Sephiroth caught his arm and replied, "It is, and you know it, even if you do not wish to admit it."

For some reason, that made the black haired man snarl and yank free of the younger man—only for both their eyes to widen as Angeal over-stepped and slipped off the top of the Statue. He heard Halo howl as he fell, and suddenly wondered if the height of the Statue was actually enough to kill a SOLDIER. In his current state...it just may be.

And then, he realized he was never going to be able to find out, because moments before he would have hit the ground—

There was a painful tearing sensation along his shoulder blades, and he was suddenly being supported on...wings? Looking back over his left shoulder, he saw nothing, so turned to look over the right one, where he saw a large, white wing—much like Halo's, actually. He wasn't sure if it was literally just one wing, though, and mid-flight wasn't the best place to try to find out. That was besides how odd it was that only half a set of wings could somehow support him in flight.

One thing stood out to him—he was a monster. This wasn't even about cell die-off, it was about how humans, even experimental ones, didn't have wings. Or one wing, but were still able to fly.

Quickly, he wheeled and flew away across the wilderness. He had no idea how far he'd be able to go, just that he had to get away before he did something unforgivable now that he was a monster. Either way, with his pain, he didn't think he'd even be able to get off the Wutain continent.

And to think, he'd been worried about looking weak because of the pain of his unhealed injuries...

MB

Genesis was watching in mild amusement as Cloud fought Rosso in a friendly sparring match a few days after he'd finally been able to name Diva, the Firebird sitting on the nearby edge of a weapons rack. A part of him also kept an eye on Kunzel, who was sparring with Tabby for both of them to gain experience in a different style of fighting while a curious Sierra watched the match from the floor just outside the range of the battle zone. It was actually true that the speed style Rosso and Tabby used was much different from a strength fighter's, the standard SOLDIER style, or the modified sword-Mage style he and Kunzel used, so the experience was good both ways.

He was also sure Rosso still couldn't get over the fact that Cloud could beat her if he chose to, and the only reason she didn't throw a fit was the boy's obvious Mako exposure. It would be his turn to spar with Cloud when his match with Rosso ended, but only if Cloud was still fit to fight by then, and by the looks of things, Rosso would run him into the ground this time, all in an effort to beat him. Genesis could have told her it wouldn't work, because it wasn't just the blond's enhancements working against her, it was his extra fourteen years of combat experience, something she still hadn't grasped.

Right then, his PHS rang, so he checked the number, saw that it was Sephiroth's, and answered it with, "I'm guessing something either went very wrong or very right?"

"The former," Sephiroth answered, and his tone was tense. "I made one more attempt to have him accept the transfusion, but he refused and we had a bit of an argument. He then slipped and fell—and sprouted two white wings, one larger and one smaller, both on his right shoulder. It appears he flew towards the south of Wutai."

Genesis sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was afraid of something like that. First, you and I—and even Weiss—all have wings as well, but while Weiss and I could activate ours at any time, yours aren't active yet. Angeal's just did so—which is also initially a symptom of degradation—or insanity—that just doesn't go away. At least, the way he did it is—I think even you're safe to use them regardless, just by how much Minerva likes who you are now. At this point, you're going to have to fight him to exhaustion, but that also means making sure he can't run or fly away. Hopefully, the exhaustion will be enough for him to take the infusion, but..."

"Things may not go so well," Sephiroth sighed. "Then what? How else could this be fixed?"

"...Keep Zack away from this situation. I don't want to put him in the position of having to kill Angeal." The words caused the younger man to draw a sharp intake of breath, but Genesis went on before he could reply, "There's a possibility he won't allow any result but death. I wish I could say something more positive, but that's still a distinct possibility now—like last time. Otherwise...Appeal to Minerva for help to fix him. A transfusion would be great, and would have saved us trouble all around, but if it's come to this...The fact is that I'm still alive and sane because I appealed to her and she chose to fix my genetic problem in the end, which repaired my cells. She's your best bet now."

"That means I should follow him, then?" the other man asked, and Genesis knew he just wanted affirmation, not actual guidance.

"That's the only option. Especially if you want to get both of you back before you're gone long enough to be registered as either deserters or traitors to Shinra," the red haired man agreed, leaning back tiredly to stare up at the ceiling.

"Tracking him then becomes a problem," the General sighed.

"Is Halo with him or did he leave her behind?" Genesis suddenly asked. "Because I'm pretty sure she can find him if she's not currently with him."

"She is here, and you are likely correct. Very well, I shall inform Argento and Veld of the situation and my plan, and leave things in their care until I return. Will you be available should I need to request more assistance from you, Genesis?"

"I will," the red haired man agreed. "Though I'm going to be out in the Slums with Kunzel for part of the afternoon—or for you, part of the night—so don't be surprised if I'm delayed in answering, if you need me during that time. Good luck. I really don't want to see Angeal end up—" Before he could finish, he found himself drawing in a shaky breath as he struggled against a sudden bout of tears.

"Nor I," Sephiroth agreed in a pained tone. "And I shall work diligently to prevent that outcome if it is at all possible." He then paused before adding, "Take care. I would not like to see anything happen to you, particularly not while there is already an issue with Angeal."

Genesis gave a faint huff and answered, "You take care, too—you'll need to more than I will if you're going up against him when he thinks he's a monster."

"I shall," Sephiroth agreed, then hung up—

And Genesis was suddenly forcibly distracted by a flying blade—actually, by more than one—so he dodged the first and drew his blade in the same motion to knock the second to the ground at his feet. Focusing on where they had come from, he realized a panting Cloud was holding his combat star in one hand, one of the blades in his other as the tip just touched Rosso's neck, and she was empty-handed. He also noticed how she had braced her hands on her hips in annoyance.

"How do you do that?" she asked of Cloud in a supremely annoyed tone.

"It's a symptom of fighting The Nightmare so many times," Cloud shrugged. "I'm done, though. Good spar—you're getting way better, Rosso."

He then withdrew his blade from her neck and replaced it on his star, turning to walk over to Genesis, where he stooped to pick up Rosso's blade and toss it back to her, then stepped past the red haired man. In mild surprise, Genesis turned to watch him—and realized the blade he'd dodged was one of Cloud's star blades. As the blond pulled it free of the wall behind Genesis, the Commander checked on Kunzel and Tabby's progress, and since it looked like they were still finding things to test, he left them to it. Also, Rosso made her way over to them to offer pointers, so he didn't need to.

"What happened?" Cloud asked from beside him, and he turned to look down at the blond boy in mild surprise.

"Don't you make any noise when you walk?" he asked, head tipped to the side like he was looking at something strange.

"I thought I was?" the boy replied in amused bemusement. "But that's not what's wrong, so what happened?"

Genesis had to sigh at that. "It looks like Angeal just went off the deep end. Hopefully Seph can bring him back, but..."

"It won't be Zack who deals with him this time," Cloud replied, and something in his tone made Genesis' eyes widen in alarm.

"It won't be you, either," the red haired man informed him. "If it'll be anyone, it'll be Sephiroth, or Weiss at worst. We're not going to have others solve our problems for us this time. That wasn't fair to either Zack, Aeris, or you when we did it last time."

Cloud's head tipped to the side for a moment, like he was listening to something, then he said, "Genesis, Zack made the choice to go up against Angeal, you, and even Sephiroth. He was hurting by how things turned out, and he asked you why you thought he should fix all your problems, but that wasn't what he meant. He was asking why it essentially had to be 'death' as the means of fixing them, not that he had to be the one to do it—he just cared enough about all of you to want to do that for you or he wouldn't have done it at all. You don't hold the blame for that which you think you do."

The words left Genesis so stunned he had to actively remind himself to breathe as he gasped out, "How—wait—Fenrir?" Cloud just nodded, and that made Genesis reassess the events of the past. He then closed his eyes as he realized what it meant. "But Cloud, even if you say that, Zack never deserved to have to carry the burden of killing us. He may have chosen to, but we were too far gone for another outcome by then. My survival was more Minerva's doing than his, and by all rights, I should have died then, too—he probably thought I would or had. As much as I appreciate him doing it, I don't want him to have to carry the burden this time, because it changed him. The pain we caused him...it changed him, badly."

"None of us ever 'deserved' our burdens, Genesis," the blond commented, and the older man opened his eyes to look at him again. "And Minerva putting us here and now is another one." He paused again, but as Genesis was opening his mouth to refute that statement, the young Turk went on, "I don't regret it. It may be a burden, and originally, I thought this was going to be another living nightmare, but it hasn't been. And we already carry those burdens, so you can't undo that part. Fenrir is still carrying them, after all, just like us. We're the lucky ones who have a chance to undo those errors. What would you have done if we'd never had this opportunity? Wallow in self-pity? I know from experience how useless an activity that is."

That startled a chuckle out of the older man, but he sighed and agreed, "Fair enough. As things stand, though, it's really only Sephiroth or Weiss who can stop Angeal right now, since this happened in Wutai. And Seph is already going after him, so we'll hope for the best. Thank you for that oddly frank speech, and for passing on Fenrir's thoughts on the matter." He then ruffled Cloud's hair, which annoyed the boy as he tried to straighten it (for as much as it could be), and turned back to Kunzel, Tabby, and Rosso.

Work still went on, and he and Kunzel were still working on laying a trap for the SOLDIER killer in the Slums.

MB

Once it looked like Genesis was in a better frame of mind, Cloud turned to leave the room, stepping into the hall—and pausing to blink in surprise as Rogue chased Sly down the hall. He'd known Reno and Derin were catching them at their fights, but now neither was anywhere around and the two pets were sprinting down the hall, full-tilt. At the next crossing hall, Cloud saw Nero and Sin turn into the hall—and into Sly and Rogue's path.

And he had to watch in bemusement as the two charging pets were suddenly seized by dark teeth and tossed against the opposite side of the hall, hitting the wall and dropping to the floor in stunned heaps. Sin cackled madly as Nero looked at the Shadow Monk and said, "I hope you didn't kill them." The Shadow Monk cackled again, and Nero sighed. "Fine. A little less brutal next time, then—they were just chasing each other, not attacking me." Another cackle came from the Shadow Monk, and Nero headed in Cloud's direction again, the monster following him and making some very happy-sounding chuckling sounds, rather than the cackle from before.

Shaking his head and sighing, Cloud made his way to the nearer pet—Rogue—as he said, "As long as I can heal them, I think we're okay for now, Nero. But their owners are both Turks, so warning Sin is probably a good idea. What in the world were those shadow teeth, though? I've never seen something like that before."

"I have no idea, actually," Nero admitted, pausing to watch as Cloud checked and healed Rogue. "Sin started doing that when I took him with me to that ancient forest south of Cosmo Canyon. It was effective, so I was fine with him doing it, but its effectiveness isn't really good when he's fighting allies or whatever."

"True," Cloud agreed. "You might want to get the Science Department to make records of any odd abilities Sin's shown it—he?—has, since they are new."

"...I'll do that after my training session, then," Nero agreed as Cloud moved over to check on Sly and Rogue pushed himself up to shake himself out rather delicately. "Thanks." He then headed the rest of the way to the training room door and stepped inside, and Cloud did the same thing for Sly as he'd done for Rogue.

"Okay, you two, you'd really better stop fighting, or you may not be so lucky next time," he told them, watched them trade looks, and sighed as he realized they weren't ready to stop yet. Especially when he saw an actual activation of Hot Springs trigger under Sly, making the now sopping wet raccoon yelp and jump for Rogue. They both ran off in the opposite direction, Sly chasing Rogue that time.

Shaking his head in exasperation, Cloud headed for his room to clean up, change, and head for Haruna's with that small, black stone. It had already been days since he'd gotten it from Yufi, so it was time to get it out of the Shinra building—and, of course, Tyra followed him. Somehow, she never seemed to care if he went to the training rooms without her, and she always knew the difference between him doing that or something else. That meant she was now with him.

However, it was when he was within sight of the house that he suddenly had the urge to dodge something—and he obeyed that urge, just in time for something to pass by where his head had been. A glance as he sprinted down the street, Tyra at his heels, showed him Fuhito, and he winced slightly, thinking the man would just shoot at him with that laser of his—which he did—but the difference now was that another Imperial Assassin suddenly landed in front of him—

Haruna was suddenly in the Assassin's way, blocking the man's blade on her own (where in the world had she gotten a katana from?) as she roared in Wutain, "That's enough!" Cloud knew some basic Wutain now, and that was one of the few things he knew—but it was enough for both Fuhito and the Assassin to freeze for a long moment, so he also stopped in surprise, and Tyra stopped at his feet with a small whine. He warily eyed Fuhito and the Assassin, but then blinked as Haruna called to him in Standard (and in a completely calm voice), "Cloud, do you have it?"

"It?" he blinked. "Do you mean that stone she had on her—the tracker?"

"That," Haruna agreed.

"Yes. Want it?" he offered, pulling it out.

Before he could blink, Fuhito had seized it from his hand, then the man asked harshly, "Where is the Princess?"

"I left her with the Turks. Beyond that, I have no idea," he replied in annoyance. He sure wasn't going to tell anyone she was in Academy classes just then. Or the Turks' private cafeteria by then, maybe. He didn't know her class schedule yet.

"Good, that's one less problem," Haruna commented mildly.

The Assassin's blade lowered, and suddenly, Fuhito began chuckling. "Oh, I am impressed. It looks like our goals are more closely aligned than I originally thought. Do you mind if we go somewhere more private to speak, Lady Tailor?" Fuhito asked. The Assassin nodded, then jumped to a nearby rooftop and quickly made his way away from the area, and Haruna faced Fuhito for a long moment.

"Very well," she finally agreed, sheathing her blade. "Cloud, go inside and find Hokuto and Aeris. Wasn't Tifa supposed to be with you today?"

"She had to stay to cook for extra company we weren't expecting," Cloud replied as he headed for the walk up to her house, Tyra staying right with him. While the reply was a code saying she couldn't come, it was also actually true this time—they had several of the engineers who were working on the airship eating in their cafeteria just then, and had for the last few days. That was part of the reason he'd avoided the Turks' cafeteria.

Haruna looked annoyed by that. "Again?"

"She is our best cook," Cloud replied in mild amusement as he stepped past her.

"Of course. She's also only eleven and should have more free time," Haruna stated bluntly, then faced a rather curious Fuhito. "This way," she said to him, motioning in the direction Cloud was going. Cloud really hoped she knew what she was doing with him.

Soon after, Maya was sitting at the kitchen table with Fuhito and Haruna as Aeris, Hokuto, and Cloud lined up against the wall behind Maya. Tyra was sleeping on his feet again. "The girl you noted once before was Aeris," Haruna told the Wutain man, motioning at the brown haired girl. "Cloud you apparently met before. A friend of his usually also comes to visit, and the girls are all friends."

"That's the girl called Tifa?" he asked.

The woman nodded. "That's her. Hokuto is my younger sister. Maya you know from the shop, even though you weren't formally introduced."

"Fair enough," Fuhito agreed. "And the children work with you as much as Maya does?"

"When needed," Haruna agreed, and Cloud blinked at how candid she was being with a man they knew was a bastard. "The easiest way to get one's hands on a child is with a child. In that regard, you actually helped Cloud convince her to come here."

"And he dumped her with the Turks," Fuhito commented, tone amused.

"As he'd been told to do," the Wutain woman agreed.

"So you're against the establishment, too. That's good to know. Now that I know your child helpers, I'll let them work in peace," Fuhito agreed. "They can go—do whatever for awhile while you and I discuss something more serious."

At a look and nod from Haruna, the three filed out, going to Hokuto's room with Tyra following again. And Cloud really, really hoped Haruna knew what she was doing. Admittedly, she was letting Fuhito assume a lot, but how long would that hold if she was going to get in this deep with the man?