Riku: Today marks the 1 year anniversary of this story! 51 chapters in just one year... just wow it's so crazy to think that.

tmart: Yea we got it finished up just in time for today. Riku had to remind me about the anniversary cause I didn't realize it had been that long. Lol

Riku: Yeah, but we can now get to right where we left off after so long!

tmart: Yep, things are getting interesting now so let's not wait anymore and get to it!

Ch.51

"Any idea why Sephiroth would have refused the mission, Zack?"

"I'm not sure… something has felt off with him ever since he said that about Angeal. Though shouldn't you know? Isn't he your mentor?"

"Yeah… but I haven't seen him recently. I've had to do training on my own most of the time now because he is busy elsewhere," Cloud replied before letting out a sigh.

"Maybe…" Zack started to say before humming softly. "Ah… I can't figure it out. I don't know him as well as you, but even if you don't know him that well. Normally I would say I'd ask Angeal, but… ya know that's why we're here in the first place."

"True… I just hope we can find the answers at least," Cloud said as he glanced out the window of the helicopter.

They were currently on their way to Genesis's hometown. Hopefully the two of them could gain some answers, whatever they would be. As long as it was something helpful, that's all that mattered to them.

When they arrived at the location, Tseng got off of the helicopter first, then Zack and Cloud followed. The two of them took a moment to look around the environment. The hilly land around them looked lush with tropical trees spread around the area. Right in front of them was a grove of different trees, the bark was white and the trees were bent over creating a covered pathway through the grove. From the branched hung strange looking purple colored apples, making the walk through the grove all the more unique.

Another thing the two of them took note of was the weather. It was warm, much warmer than it was in Midgar. It almost reminded them of home back in Gongaga. It was close, but nothing could quite be the same as that, but it at least was a close second to them.

"Weird-looking trees," Zack mumbled.

"These are Banora White trees," Tseng said before stopping to turn around and face the boys. "AKA dumbapples."

"Wait, that means we're in Banora?" Zack question.

Cloud rolled his eyes at his brother. He could act so clueless or oblivious sometimes.

"Angeal's hometown?"

"That is correct. Genesis and Angeal have known each other for a long time," Tseng replied.

"Wow, I never knew they grew up together," Zack commented. "I mean maybe I should since they are close friends after all."

"Hmm," Cloud hummed as he thought it over.

A stray thought entered his mind upon hearing that. If Genesis and Angeal were from Banora, where was Sephiroth from? Cloud considered it some more, but realized he had never actually asked Sephiroth that question. There had never been a reason to do so.

"Maybe I'll ask him when we get back…" Cloud spoke to himself.

"Huh? What was that Cloud?"

He looked up to Zack quickly. He hadn't realized he had said that loud enough for his brother to hear. "Oh, it's nothing. Just thinking about us being here."

Zack surveyed Cloud for a second before his face relaxed. "Alright then. Well let's focus on being here then."

"Right," Cloud replied quickly. He kept the thought of Sephiroth in his mind, but didn't speak up about it anymore.

"Hey! Look over there"! Zack shouted at the sound of some rustling.

Up head Cloud saw there were two people… two SOLIDERs that looked exactly like what he had come across in Wutai with Sephiroth. "More Genesis clones…"

"Come on Cloud!" Zack shouted as he drew his sword.

"Right!"

The two of them charged forward at their opponents, each of them taking on one. It wasn't too terribly hard for them to go against these copies, and they were defeated fairly quickly. Once they were Zack sighed as he looked over the bodies that would soon enough fade into the Lifestream.

"These guys! They were in Wutai too!"

"So they are here," Tseng stated simply. "We haven't seen any of the townspeople. They may have taken control of the entire town. When Genesis deserted, he took a large arsenal of weapons with him. The president's orders are to retrieve or destroy these weapons immediately upon discovery."

"Leave it to us then!" Zack said proudly. "We can handle it, right Cloud?"

"Yeah, doesn't sound too hard at least," Cloud replied.

"Then let's go," Zack said, nudging his brother by the shoulder.

"Okay," Cloud said before following behind Zack.

They were heading through the canopy of trees when Zack suddenly came to a stop. Cloud turned around and looked at him. "What's up?"

"Just got an email from Kunsel. Giving me some info about Banora and stuff. Heh, he always seems to be investigating everything."

"But that's good right? He's just trying to help us and stuff."

Zack nodded. "Yeah, but we can't dawddle too long on it. Come on let's get a move on."

The two of them continued onward, occasionally encountering more Genesis clones along the way. There were not a whole ton of them, but there were a few here and there scattered along the pathway.

Eventually they came to the top of the hill where a large building was. In front of it was two more Genesis clones and some kind of machine. Right away the boys pulled their swords back out and readied to fight. The copies came charging, running quickly, but it wasn't something that the brothers could not handle. Though Cloud was ready to fight against them, Zack took a step forward and slashed through them in no time flat.

But it seemed their fight would be far from over. The machine powered up and began firing right at Zack, but it was all for naught as he sliced clear through it. Cloud only had to dodge out of the way before the remains of the bullet could come close to him.

With no time to talk, the two sprung into action, attacking the large machine. It ended up not taking too long though with the two of them attacking it from every angle they could jump around to hit. Once it was done and defeated, Zack walked over to the bodies of the copies, one of the helmets had fallen off when Zack attacked before, revealing the Genesis look-a-like face.

"More Genesis copies…" Zack muttered as he stared at the body.

"Where did you hear that?" Tseng asked as he finally made his way over.

Cloud looked over to him, watching as he walked towards the wrecked of the machine that had been destroyed. Clearing his throat he decided to answer. "Sephiroth told us when we were in Wutai."

Tseng did not face Zack or Cloud, instead he kept his back to them as he spoke. "The technology was stolen from our scientists. It apparently allows Genesis's abilities and traits to be transplanted… to SOLDIER members and monsters."

Cloud let out a gasp. "What? Why would… how could that be?"

Zack hummed solfy, thinking his own thoughts on the matter. "Sounds weird… SOLDIER and monsters… they… we're the same?"

"I wouldn't know what the full details are," Tseng said before starting to walk away from the broken machine. "But we must deal with this quickly."

Cloud and Zack followed Tseng as he started to lead them past the building and up towards a hill just to the right of it.

"Internal issues like these must be dealt with before the public finds out," Tseng said before signing. He looked at the hill beyond where a house could be seen. "Still no sign of townspeople. Let's check the houses."

"Okay," Cloud answered before he started to head up the hill with Zack right by his side. "It's kind of freaky… you know being this quiet."

"Yeah, but we will figure it all out. That's what we are here for anyways," Zack answered.

When they got up the hill they started to look around the house, but there was still no one in sight. Tseng once again followed quietly behind them before he decided to speak up. "This is Genesis's home. His parents are wealthy landowners."

Zack sighed as he began to look up at one of the trees that hung overhead. Cloud wasn't too sure what Zack could have been thinking, but it seemed that Tseng knew. "They weren't mere acquaintances. They grew up together, and they were best friends."

"Oh… he must be talking about Genesis and Angeal. That makes sense," Cloud thought to himself as he listened to the other two converse.

"So Genesis deserts and gets his best friend Angeal to join him… is that it?"

Tseng looked at Zack calmly. "Sephiroth believes that's the case." Tseng then looked to the side. "There. A gravestone. Still very new."

Cloud looked over to see an area in the ground that was raised. A series of rocks had been placed in a certain pattern on top of the raised ground. "That's… a grave? What happened here? What does this all mean?" Cloud kept asking himself these questions though he knew full well that he didn't have the answers. He would just have to keep going to find out what he wanted or at least hoped he could find out.

"Zack. Cloud. Go find Angeal's house," Tseng said before turning to move towards the grave area. "I'll check the grave."

"Ugh, so Turks always do this stuff?" Zack questioned, following Tseng slightly.

"Someone has to do it."

"Must be rough…" Zack replied, giving a slight sigh.

Cloud nodded in agreement. "I can't imagine having to do things like this often."

"Don't worry. We're paid much better than you are," Tseng answered calmly.

That wasn't the answer either boy was expecting. Their eyes widened in sync with their mouths dripping open. "No way!" They both shouted their shocked reaction in unison to match with their expressions, but it didn't warrant much of a reaction in return from Tseng.

The Turk only huffed slightly. "The house you're looking for should be over there in that row," The said, pointing to an array of houses to the left of them. "The area could still have enemies in it, so be careful."

"Of course. We'll take care of it. Watch your back too," Zack replied as he motioned for Cloud to follow him.

As the two of them walked off toward the houses, they each started to look around. Zack and Cloud looked at all of the houses, but there was something that crossed Cloud's mind.

"Uh, Zack… exactly which house are we supposed to be looking for?"

"Oh! Well, let's see, Angeal's house is…" he trailed off as he looked around quickly, examining the makeup of each house. Though, his effort was for naught. "I have no idea!" he admitted aloud.

"So, do we have to check each one of them then?" Cloud asked curiously.

"Looks like it. Well, that will be easier with two of us here. Cloud, you go to that side, and I will work this side, got it?"

"Yeah, okay," Cloud agreed as he walked towards the other area of houses away from Zack.

Just as they went off in their own directions, Zack noticed something was off. Then, he saw something from the shadows of one of the buildings. "Cloud, looks like we got company."

"Yep, I see them too." He was just about to tell Zack the same thing before his brother had spoken up.

There appeared to be about six of what they assumed to be Genesis clones there. But even with that, Cloud and Zack knew they could manage. As long as they stuck by one another and kept track of the attacks, they knew that they could get through the battle easily.

Though as they fought, there were still many thoughts still circling in Cloud's head. He still wasn't entirely fond of the entire fight with other people, let alone members from SOLDIER. To top that off they were also members who had come to look like Genesis for whatever reason. How exactly it worked wasn't too clear in Cloud's mind, but it was weird nonetheless.

When the copies were defeated Zack and Cloud went back to checking the houses. Each house Cloud went up to there was never an answer. No one seemed to be home anywhere… and it was starting to make him feel uneasy. He then looked over after checking the last door on the section he was at to see how Zack was doing.

It seemed just the same as he gave a shrug to Cloud. "Kind of weird right? Like no one is home."

"But someone has to be here right?" Cloud asked. "There is still one more house to look at."

"Hopefully… otherwise I have no idea what we are going to tell Tseng."

Zack led the way up to the other house that was left unchecked. As he went to knock on the door, he noticed that it was already slightly opened. He motioned to Cloud, who readied his hand with his weapon. Zack was prepared if there happened to be creatures inside of the house.

As he slowly pushed the door open though, the only thing he saw was a lone woman. She sat in a wooden chair that was positioned at a small, circular table. She looked up to the two SOLDIERs that were standing in the doorway.

"Can I help you?"

"Uh… greetings, ma'am." Zack stopped himself before he fumbled anymore. Though, after looking at the woman for a split second more, he knew who she must be. There was a rather familiar look in her face that gave him the answer he had. "Are you… Angeal's mother?... My name is Zack."

She glanced quickly over to the side, almost as if she was looking at something behind the door. Her gaze then shifted back towards the two boys. "Are you Zack, the puppy?"

Cloud couldn't help but snort at the comment, to which Zack almost shot a death glare at him. "Looks like she already knows you at least," Cloud commented softly.

Zack sighed as he turned back to face the woman.

She began to smile. "My son wrote to me once about you. Zero attention span, restless as a little puppy." She gave a hearty laugh once she concluded her statement.

"Does Angeal tell everyone that?" Zack mumbled, though it still caught the ears of the others in the room.

Cloud ended up laughing, much to Zack's displeasure. He couldn't stay upset long though, as he had gotten mostly used to the nickname by now. He almost started to smile along with the others in the room.

"And who's this other person here?" Angeal's mother asked as she looked towards Cloud.

"Oh, this is my younger brother, Cloud. He's SOLDIER just like I am," Zack pointed towards the blond with a proud gesture, to which Cloud strainted up and nodded properly. "May I ask your name?"

She looked around shortly, as if trying to see behind the two of them. "I'm Gillian Hewley," she responded shortly. "You're… not here with Genesis are you?"

Zack's expression changed to a more serious one. "No, we're not. Don't worry about that."

Gillian relaxed after hearing that. Her expression soon changed to a more worried one. "What… what is happening with my son?"

A sharp tug was felt at Zack's heart upon hearing that question. "I'm, not really sure myself… I wish that I did..."

"We're just here trying to find some answers to things," Cloud added on.

A large sigh escaped from her mouth. "Genesis came back here, a month ago, with an army of cohorts. And they proceeded to take the lives of many townspeople," she began to tell them with a saddened expression across her face. "Genesis… he used to be such a good boy…"

Zack and Cloud shared a look with each other. They almost couldn't believe what they had heard, at least Cloud couldn't. It made Cloud wonder once more about the childhood of the three main 1st class men. They all of course had a childhood, but Cloud never had really given it a thought before. But also like before his thoughts led him to thinking about Sephiroth and wondering about him.

"I wonder what Sephiroth's childhood was like… where did he grow up and stuff…"

Cloud's thoughts were cut short when Zack spoke up, albeit in a soft tone. "Is Angeal…?" He ended up trailing off, his eyes looking worried and concerned.

"He came here," Gillian answered calmly like she had been. "But left his sword and went off somewhere."

The boys turned to look and saw that the sword was propped up against the wall. Cloud felt a sudden chill through his body when his eyes landed on it. He knew it wasn't the first time it had happened though. Thankfully no headache came to his mind this time, which was the last thing that he wanted to happen. But there was still that unsettling feeling he got when he looked at it… still something he didn't understand.

"That sword represents our family's honor," Gillian concluded.

"I see… no wonder…" Zack muttered before turning to face Angeal's mother. "He never uses this sword, really ever."

He walked back over to her and kneeled down beside her. "Cloud and I will take care of Angeal. You should go and hide somewhere."

"Don't be concerned. Genesis… cannot harm me," Gillian said as she straightened up, looking forward at the wall across the room.

"But are you sure? Things could get dangerous," Cloud said as he stepped forward a small bit.

He almost said more, but Zack placed a hand on his shoulder. "Cloud, it's fine. She's Angeal's mother after all, so she has to be tough." Zack looked up at her with a pleasant face, trying his best to be understanding.

Gillian nodded her head. "Yes, I will be just fine," she said simply. Then her eyes drifted to the corner where the buster sword was standing.

Upon noticing that, Zack then looked back at the sword. So many thoughts ran through his mind at that moment. "Where are you Angeal? Why are you doing all this? And what am I supposed to do?"

Cloud could tell that his brother was lost deep in thought as he noticed where he was looking. Cloud averted his eyes from the sword, as not to allow his mind to slip into deep thoughts on it. He instead looked back and forth between Zack and Gillian. However, he could not find the words to say as they all stood awkwardly in silence.

"When Angeal joined Shinra…" Gillian began randomly, catching their attention again. "My husband had that sword made for him, in the hopes that he would become an honorable warrior."

"Really?" Zack began. "I, I mean, Angeal never really mentioned that. So that's why he is so protective over it then…"

Gillian nodded slowly as if agreeing with him. "We had to borrow a lot of money to have it made, but then… While fervently trying to return all the money, my husband succumbed to fatigue…"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Zack silently spoke.

"Y-Yeah, same here." Cloud wasn't exactly sure what to say in response, having never really dealt with a situation like that before.

"Please be good friends to my son," Giliian replied, focusing her gaze back to the wall.

"Okay," Zack said before tapping Cloud on the shoulder. "Let's head out."

Zack opened the door and allowed Cloud to exit the house first. He soon followed right after, but not before looking back one last time at Gillian. He gave her a silent nod, as if letting her know that he would do as she asked. She gave a half smile back to him but nothing more.

The two were soon out of the house as Zack closed the door behind him. "Angeal… Where did you go?" Zack asked unknowingly as he looked towards the sky.

"Zack… do you think it was okay, leaving her alone like that?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure. But… we couldn't force her. I mean, she is Angeal's mother. She seems to know them both well too…"

"Well, I hope so anyways."

"Yeah, me too buddy. Well, let's get-"

Suddenly, a large crashing sound was heard in the distance, interrupting Zack's train of thought.

"What?!" Zack exclaimed. "You hear that Cloud?"

"Yeah I did. Wonder what it was?"

"Let's go find out."

The two of them headed off in the direction of the sound, which was to the right of the house they had just come out of. They traveled up the road a short distance before coming a bend with a fenced off area at the end. At least, it used to be a fenced off area, but now it had been broken down by what looked to be more Genesis copies.

"More of them?" Cloud said with an exasperated tone.

"Looks like it. Guess the job here isn't quite done yet. We'll clean up here and then get back to Tseng, got it?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Cloud replied shortly before they began to go to work.

tmart: Now we are getting into it. Figured this would be a good spot to end on at least for now.

Riku: Yeah, we have a lot of building up still but we are so glad all of you have stuck around! So huge thank you to that!

Tmart: We have a lot planned, so here's to another year!