Gift of the Goddess

Sephiroth had been delayed in following Angeal for only as long as it took him to grab some supplies, let Argento and Veld know what was going on, and return to the Statue where he'd left Halo. She had whined at him as soon as he'd returned there, so he had told her to, "Find Angeal." Somehow, it was like she'd known what he'd meant, and had flown south, finding places to perch where he could see her to catch up to her. Every time he did, she would move to a new perch. It was like she knew something was wrong and had decided he'd be the one to fix this problem.

All he could hope was that he'd find Angeal quickly and resolve the situation. While Veld and Argento had been sympathetic and would cover for him for as long as they could, that would only last for as long as the President didn't take an interest in the troops sent to Wutai. He knew he'd be lucky to have two weeks' grace before they would have to register both of their disappearances, and that would only give them an additional two weeks' time. It was a restriction he didn't like under the circumstances.

But now, almost a day later, Halo had gotten very nervous and come to the ground at his feet to lead him from there. He could guess Angeal was close, but how close was that, exactly? Then, as the two walked, he suddenly heard a sound like a footstep nearby and froze, senses on high alert. Another noise like the first and he'd worked out the direction and spun to face it—and found himself having to raise his blade in his defense as Angeal slammed into him hard enough to knock him down—

And in the time it took him to recover, the man was gone again, leaving a trail of small, white feathers in his wake. Halo whined, and he pushed himself to his feet, lifting one hand to gently catch one of the drifting feathers. While he knew Halo was definitely leading him the right way now, he had a sudden premonition of doom—in that brief glimpse he'd seen of the older man, it had looked like almost half of Angeal's hair was gray or white. If that was another sign of degradation, his friend had descended far in just a day. Was that the difference between a single small wound and many burn wounds?

Turning to follow the trail of feathers, he covered a good bit of distance that way, Halo at his feet, and when they ran out, he told her to, "Find Angeal," again. At the words, she took the lead. Once again, she led him to the other First, and once again, he was shoved to the ground. The process repeated itself several times over the next few days, sometimes only once during the day, but others around three or four times. Those days felt more like a surreal nightmare than they did like an actual hunt for a friend he was trying desperately to save. A trail of feathers had been left behind at every encounter.

Every time Sephiroth caught those brief glimpses of the other man, more of his hair had turned gray. Or, more accurately, it had all gone gray by the end of the first day after the first meeting. Was this really all just the degradation Genesis had talked about? It was happening so fast if it was. Could it be possible some part of Jenova was behind this as well? Admittedly, it was possible—the ones with Leviathan's Blessing had been clear in saying she wasn't dead yet, only reduced to a host which wasn't her main body, and through it, she could still manipulate her cells, it would just be harder.

He felt that sinking sensation again, as though things were about to go very wrong. And oddly, Halo had stopped at the edge of the cliff they'd just come to, looking around in confusion as she tried to work out which way to go. Right then, there wasn't a trail of feathers to follow, so he had no idea of another way to track the man if Halo suddenly couldn't. The cliff wasn't encouraging, though—most of the land below it was desolate, and at the top, trees were a distance away.

At the same time as Halo yelped, he felt something like a sense to move from the Lifestream, or from Minerva—

Before he could react, he felt a blow against his back and was thrown forward off the cliff!

The blow had hit his spine and made him dizzy. He couldn't see clearly to even try to control his drop. Closing his eyes caused a flash of memory to pass through his mind—Aeris telling him he had a way to be spared a death by falling. He reached for Minerva, asking for that way Aeris had said he had. It was the only thing he could do, and he could only hope she would answer.

And she did.

Her energy flowed into and through him, focusing on his back, and on his shoulder blades. He felt a sensation like something uncoiling in them, then a burst of pain as something surged out from there. Even without his full awareness, he could feel his descent stop and turn upward, giving his enhancements time to repair the damage to his spine (and his shoulders as well, now) so he could recover from the dizziness. By the time he could open his eyes, he'd stopped and was just hovering in the air—

All around him, he could see both black and white feathers drifting in the wind. Looking up, he saw the moon and stars in a black sky—and saw a small point of shimmering white flying in the direction of the next mountain. The white feathers were coming from the white spot, letting him know that was Angeal, and his first instinct was to follow the man, keeping him in sight. He'd never have a better chance, and knew it was right when Halo joined him in flight after the other First.

They flew for hours, until it was just coming up on dawn, before Angeal finally stopped on a mountaintop where there was a small cave. By the time Sephiroth landed, Angeal had disappeared into the cave, and Halo landed beside him, whining worriedly. He gave her head a pat, then decided he should actually look at what Minerva had given him. Turning his head to both sides, he found huge, black wings which had folded automatically to settle behind his back—two of them, and both full-size, not the too-small, single-sided one Angeal had. The difference between Minerva and Jenova.

Drawing in a deep breath and releasing it slowly, he stepped into the cave. It wasn't very deep, and opened into a single, larger room which filled most of the top of the mountain. Holes in the walls let in filtered predawn light. In the middle of the room of sorts, facing away from him, Angeal stood silently. Oddly, Sephiroth realized his clothing was somehow also graying, being affected by the degradation somehow—as though it wasn't bad enough the man was suffering that way, apparently it could transfer to things touching him for an extended time.

"Angeal," he said quietly.

"You've seen for yourself that I'm a monster. I'd hoped you'd give up by now," Angeal replied, then sighed. "I should have known you'd follow me. So," he began, turning to face Sephiroth as he drew his Buster Sword. "So, that leaves extermination."

"Look at me, Angeal!" Sephiroth scowled. "I have wings, as well! And apparently, so do Genesis and Weiss! Why are you a monster if we are not?"

Angeal took a moment to examine him, then shook his head. "Real wings, not shattered, broken things. There's only one choice."

Angeal jumped at him, and the only thing he could do was lift his blade to block him. Genesis had said he'd have to exhaust him just to have a chance to save him, so he'd have to do that. As they rapidly exchanged several blows, a part of him didn't believe Angeal would really try to kill him—but as he felt a damaging blow hit him, he realized one of his closest friends was so far gone he really was trying to kill him. That somehow felt—and tasted—so bitter he almost backed down, but remembered Genesis saying this was the only option left—it would have to be appealing to Minerva for help or killing him.

Somehow, that was even more bitter.

Suddenly, he burst out in pain, "Don't force me to kill you, Angeal!"

Angeal let out a roar of anger and shoved him back so hard he hit the wall. "Stop holding back or I'll be the one to kill you!" Angeal yelled at him, charging forward.

With a pained breath, Sephiroth unleashed his Limit Break, the same kind of cutting air attack which could down military towers and behemoths in one strike. It hit the charging man as Sephiroth bit his lip so hard it bled and tried desperately to hold back enough of the force so Angeal wouldn't die. That time, it was the larger man who was thrown back to hit the far wall, and most of the wall crumbled to allow in more light. When Angeal didn't move to rise immediately, he worried he'd done too much damage, and quickly scrambled over to the other man.

He was still breathing, but his chest wound was serious, and his breaths came short and hard. Sephiroth had seen that before in men near death on a battlefield, and before he could stop it, he breathed out a pained, "Angeal..."

"It's...okay..." the man said faintly. "It's...over...now...No pain...Not a...monster..."

Closing his eyes as he took Angeal's hand tightly in his, he did something he never thought he'd do—ever: he prayed. Because he knew Minerva was the only one who could help Angeal now, he prayed to her to save one of his best friends, one of the people whose strength he relied on. Until right then, he'd never realized just how much he truly had relied on them, on both Angeal and Genesis, but this was a hard blow, and if Minerva was the only one who could fix what was wrong—

Anything would be worth keeping the two people he cared the most about in his life. Even praying. Any sacrifice. As long as Angeal didn't die now.

Some sudden urge made him open his eyes—and what met them was something he could only describe as a miracle. Dawn sun flooded the place around him and Angeal (okay, dramatic for its timing, but admittedly expected) as white-green lights like pyreflies flowed around them in ever-increasing quantities—but instead of them taking Angeal away with them, they were flowing into him. As he watched the lights flow, the other man's wounds healed, the gray signs of degradation began fading, and the wings dissipated—only to be replaced with two wings just like Sephiroth's, but in white. When all the damage was gone, the pyreflies faded and the sunlight shifted away from them.

After a short pause, Angeal groaned like he was coming to, then opened his eyes slowly and looked up at Sephiroth in confusion. "What...happened?" the older man asked, reaching up to run a hand through his black hair.

"You were degrading—dying," Sephiroth answered quietly. "You refused help, then fled when you suddenly acquired wings. Minerva felt it was best to undo that damage, otherwise you'd have died just now. She left you with a proper pair of wings, ones like mine, but white. Genesis and Weiss have them, too, so you know."

For a long moment, Angeal just stared at him, then managed to struggle to a sitting position—only to blink in surprise as Sephiroth hugged him. His arms lifted to return the hug as he said, "I...really don't remember much of that. I think I attacked you a few times?" Sephiroth gave a faint chuckle, but the man asked, "So, where are we, exactly?"

"Somewhere in the south of Wutai," Sephiroth answered, drawing back to give him a small smile. "We'll have to make our way back once we've both rested."

For a long moment, the older man was quiet, but then his eyes widened and he gasped, "You're using contractions! You're talking like a normal person!" The silver haired man started to scowl, only to be cut off as the black haired one laughed and hugged him tightly. "I'm so glad! And thank you, Seph. For everything."

The younger man's shoulders relaxed and sagged as he returned the hug that time. "I'm just glad I didn't have to see you die here. I've never been more thankful for something before in my life."

"...I think I agree with that sentiment," Angeal admitted.

After a long silence of them just leaning on one another (and ignoring Halo as she curled up against their sides), the sliver haired man asked, "Hey, Ang?"

"Hmm...?" the older First replied absently.

"I think you should call Gen and let him know you're all right now," he informed the black haired man. "I think he'll appreciate hearing that more from you directly rather than from me."

That startled a chuckle out of the man, but he agreed, "I'll do that, then." He then dug out his PHS to make the call as Sephiroth sat back from him to watch him with a smile.

As he did, he sent the most heart-felt thanks he could to Minerva, and she replied with a sensation like she was hugging him.

MB

It was fairly late in the evening as Genesis and Kunzel sat at the coffee table in their apartment, eying a map with many marks on it. "I still think there's more places than this," Kunzel commented, tapping the pen in his hand on the map absently. "It's like we lost half of them somewhere."

"Or they were so close in location they doubled up," Genesis shrugged.

"I don't like 'resolving' details like that in such a generalized way. It's too likely to be faulty," the younger man replied. From the floor beside him, Sierra let out a chirping sound, then jumped up onto the coffee table to sniff the map. "Don't walk on our paperwork, Sierra," Kunzel told her absently as he gave her a push to the part of the table which wasn't covered in paper. She eyed him for a long moment, then walked back on top of the map again. The black haired man gave her an annoyed look as Genesis laughed.

"It looks like she wants your attention, Kunzel," the red haired man commented, then glanced over at Diva. She was curled up on the couch beside him after having pulled the blanket mostly over her, but at least she was stationary this late at night.

"I think she wants me to go to bed so she can join me," Kunzel sighed, lifting her off the map and moving her to his lap. "But I mean it, Genesis—I don't like how we somehow lost what I think is about half the locations where an attack happened. We need those locations back to see the pattern."

"Okay. Even if we lost half of them, the question then is how? We got the data verbally from the other SOLDIERs, and you recorded them on your PHS personally. No one's had access to either your PHS or to the map we're using since you got them. What does that leave?" Genesis asked in a dry tone.

The other man was silent for a minute, then looked up at Genesis. "A hacker. It's the only logical explanation. I'm not quite that good with technology, so who can we ask?"

With a faint sigh, Genesis pulled out his PHS and found Reno's number to auto-dial it, and Reno answered on the second ring with the question, "What can I do for ya, Commander?"

"You Turks have hackers. We need the best you've got to check Kunzel's PHS for erased data or other tampering," Genesis told him plainly. "Normally I wouldn't ask, but we were actively collecting and recording data we were tracking to find a trend, and now it seems some of that data is gone—was gone even before we'd put it on our map."

Reno gave an impressed whistle. "Yeah, that'd be hackin'. For that, Derin's the best, yo. Head up—we're still here tonight, so you'll be able ta ask 'im right now. I'll let him know you're comin', yo."

"Will do. Thanks, Reno," Genesis agreed. Hanging up, he told Kunzel, "We can go up and let Derin have a look at your PHS for any tampering."

"Okay," the younger man agreed. "Thanks for humoring me, even if you don't think anything's wrong."

"It isn't that I don't, I'm just not entirely sure what difference it would make," Genesis shrugged. "But if you think it will, we'll go with that—you're the data cruncher, not me."

Kunzel gave him a small, amused smile. "Really? I sometimes can't tell if I'm doing more of it or if you are. Some things, you definitely do more than I do."

"Priorities," the red haired man offered in amusement, rising. Diva roused and chirped, so he gave a faint sigh and lifted her up onto his shoulder, where she gripped it and held on.

"There's that," Kunzel agreed, setting Sierra on the floor and rising as well. Like always, the Coerl kitten followed at Kunzel's heels as the two headed out.

Shortly before they reached the elevator, Genesis' PHS rang, and he checked the number—and saw it was Angeal's, so answered it with a worried, hopeful, "Angeal?"

"Yeah," the man answered, sounding amused and tired. "I was really a mess before. Seph said I should call you to let you know I'm okay now—we're just resting a bit before we go back. Thanks for sending him after me."

Genesis chuckled. "I didn't have to 'send' him, he was going to go anyway. He was just as worried as I was—and I'm just glad you're okay and I can stop worrying."

"Yeah," the older man answered, and there was warmth in his voice. "But...I'm still glad it was the two of you, not someone else." Genesis hummed happily, and Kunzel gave him an amused look as they stepped onto the elevator. "So yeah, we'll both be back when our troop rotation here ends, whenever the President decides that is. We'll see you then, right?"

"Definitely. Take care," Genesis agreed. "We were just on the way to check something, though, so I don't have long to talk."

"That's fine—both of us are exhausted and about ready to just drop into sleep. Another time, then," Angeal agreed. "Thanks again for doing everything you could to look out for me, Gen."

"Yeah. You'd do the same for me, Ang. And I'm still glad it worked out okay. Later," Genesis agreed, and both hung up.

"So, whatever's been worrying you isn't now?" Kunzel asked.

"It's all resolved, thankfully in a good way," the older man agreed. "I really was worried about that for awhile, but Seph came through for us."

With a nod, Kunzel said, "I was wondering if I should ask about it, and I'm glad I waited. Either way, I probably couldn't have done anything at all until it was resolved."

"I wouldn't have been in good shape if things had gone poorly," Genesis admitted with a faint wince. "I'd probably have needed you then, just to stay anything like sane enough to not do something really stupid."

The younger man nudged his shoulder with his, silently letting him know he'd have done everything he could to support him. The rest of the trip was spent in silence, and they found about half of the current Turks' office staff still at work when they got there. Donnel, Eonna, Lakis, and Anki all seemed to be working late with Reno and Derin—and Genesis was amused to see a raccoon perched on a filing cabinet below a vent and a Trickplay curled in a corner, sleeping. He supposed those were Sly and Rogue, the ones who had left fur behind in Kariya's hair.

Reno saw them and gave a wave as he called, "Derin, they're here, yo!"

The black haired Turk looked up from the papers scattered on his desk and saw the two SOLDIERs, so gave a nod. "Right, come over here, then," he said, shuffling the papers over and turning fully to face them. The two headed over to join him, and he added, "Reno said you think someone's hacking your PHS. Let me have a look." Kunzel took it out and gave it to him, so he said, "Standard Shinra issue. I'll tell you right now that there aren't many people who can hack these. If this is the only one you use, I'll probably need both of yours—it's unlikely someone who had the codes would only hack one of you."

"What does that mean?" Kunzel asked in surprise.

Derin's gaze lifted to him shrewdly. "If I'm completely honest, our PHS's actually can't be hacked, they can only be accessed through the programming and decoding codes only a small number of people in the company have. Without those codes, no outside hacker could get in. The President, Veld, Ansha, myself, Reeve, and Scarlet are approved to have the codes, and we know five of those wouldn't hack your PHS's. I guess there's always the chance the President gave it to someone else without telling the rest of us, but all the rest had, and have, no reason to give them to anyone else. Either way, whoever could have done it is limited."

Genesis and Kunzel traded alarmed looks as Derin began working on Kunzel's PHS, and they were quiet for awhile as they waited for results—until Diva apparently got tired of the silence and began singing. Her burst of song caused several chuckles around the room, and Genesis looked around again curiously, leaning back against Derin's desk. That was when he noticed the vent hatch off and no sign of the raccoon he'd seen below it earlier.

"Reno, I think Sly just hightailed it," Genesis called over to him.

Reno gave an absent, dismissing wave and replied, "Better he goes explorin' than stays here ta taunt Rogue or get taunted."

Derin groaned faintly at the words, but Genesis raised a brow. "Okay...But raccoons are rather notorious for hijacking things."

"Yeah," Reno agreed. "Both Hex—Tifa's raccoon and mine's sister—and Sly give us 'gifts'. She gives hers ta me, an' I find out who they were hijacked from 'n' return 'em. Everyone's happy that way, an' a bunch o' our employees even think it's a game. I think I got three things that've got no claimer yet? But some a' what Sly brings me's gotten interestin'. Makes me think he's tryin' ta shock me. Long as he's not fightin' with Rogue, I don't care."

Genesis had to chuckle and shake his head, then reached up to scratch Diva's chest feathers, and she just kept right on singing.

In the end, it took about half an hour longer for Derin to sigh and say, "Yes, here's the missing data. I suggest you do something with it right now so it won't be lost again. Commander, let me see yours." Genesis dug it out absently and passed it to him, and the Turk set to work. In the meantime, Kunzel grabbed a blank page and began writing down the data so they had the locations noted. Awhile longer passed, then Derin sighed and said, "Genesis, I really hope you haven't been having very detailed discussions about sensitive things around your PHS lately, because it looks like the audio recording files have all been taken."

Genesis turned back to face him, asking in confusion, "What audio recording files?"

"Yeah, I'll second that," Kunzel asked, pausing to look up in confusion.

Derin gave them both a flat look. "The reality of the creation of the PHS is that it's a spy device and is one of the least-secure forms of communication we have. The existence of the ones we use in Shinra Company is an attempt for people who are doing wrong and know it to keep ordinary people from finding that out. That doesn't mean they don't have the same functions which make them spy devices, it means the people who can access those functions is more limited. Major aspects of the spy function include automatic recording of audio and video around the PHS, and someone with the codes can take those files as easily as text messages and other kinds of stored data."

"...So how far back does this go?" Genesis asked sharply.

Shaking his head, the Turk said, "I can't know for sure how far back they went when they took things, but it looks like most of it started around when Heidegger and Palmer both ended up under suspicion, or for around Deepground's timing. That also makes it very likely that a lot more people are having their data hijacked than just the two of you." Derin paused as his lips pressed into a fine line. "I'd better start running a lot of checks on who's had data taken. We have too many sensitive things going on to risk that kind of breach. The only other option...is to re-write the base code on the mainframe..."

As he drifted off, Genesis and Kunzel traded looks, then Kunzel quickly went back to work. "I don't think we had anything overly bad in our PHS's over the last month," Kunzel commented. "I don't know that someone having taken it will be earth-shattering."

Derin made an exasperated noise as he returned Genesis' PHS to him. "It doesn't just record what you say on your phone to someone else when you call them, it also records anything you talk about with anyone else while it's close enough to you to be able to register the voices. The range is several feet. If you talk quietly and have it in a pocket, it would normally only register a murmur, but otherwise, it'll record things pretty clearly. When I said your audio files had been taken, Genesis, I meant your private discussions, not just your calls."

Genesis pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off a headache. "That means there could well be detrimental things someone got..."

"I'll look into it, then, and maybe see if I can pull a fast one and re-write the script to a new code I'd then be the only one who could access," Derin answered. "If I need you back, I'll give you a call, but you can go get some sleep for now."

"Later, then, and thanks for the help," Genesis agreed, and once Kunzel was done copying the notes from his retrieved files, the two headed back to their apartment.