Riku: After a long while we finally updated another chapter! We finally made it back!

tmart: It's been a while but we finally were able to get through this part.

Ch.52

Cloud and Zack had cleared out the copies and now they were free to move on. But only a few seconds later Zack got a phone call. Quickly he answered it and from what Cloud could hear, it was Tseng talking to him.

After the call Zack closed his phone, placing it back in his pocket. "All right, here's the plan. Tseng found a factory that he thinks is the headquarters for all of this craziness. We're going to head to the clifftop to meet him up there for the next part of the plan."

"Got it!" Cloud nodded in agreement.

The two ran as fast as they could to get to the cliffside where Tseng waited for them. Once they got up there they noticed that he was kneeling down, looking at the factory below the cliffs. He looked to the two boys once they came closer and then focused back at the factory.

"Genesis's parents were in that grave."

Zack and Cloud both developed a look of shock on their faces at what Tseng had said.

"Wait… his own family?" Zack asked with a confused tone.

"But, why?" Cloud added in.

Tseng let out a sigh. "We can't expect reason from him unfortunately. To other matters though, what about Angeal?"

"Oh, right," Zack started. "He wasn't at the house…" he trailed off in thought. Before too long, he spoke out again. "But please, give me some time! I can talk to him if we can find him. He'll listen to me, I'm sure of it. And… maybe if that happens then Genesis will come back too."

"I'll help you too, that's why I'm here," Cloud said quickly. "You don't have to do this all on your own, Zack."

Tseng turned to face the two boys. "I understand why Sephiroth chose you two then."

"Huh?"

"What do you mean? He… chose us?"

"Well…" Tseng began, trying to find the words to fit. "Genesis and Angeal, they were Sephiroth's only friends. He didn't want to fight them, so he refused the mission. It's as simple as that."

"Wow… I never knew that. Sephiroth only has them for friends? I never thought about it that way…" Cloud thought to himself. "But Sephiroth never really talks about that stuff in the first place… can he really be friendly?"

"Well, Angeal is my friend too!" Zack shouted, interrupting Cloud from his thoughts.

Tseng nodded. "He's counting on you to bring them back." He then stood up. "Time is short. Let's go."

Zack stood up and cracked his knuckles. "Right! You ready Cloud?"

"Yeah!" Cloud replied as he stood up.

Zack broke the glass on the ceiling quickly and dove straight in. He landed squarely on his feet, looking around to see if there was anything near them. Just a few seconds later, Cloud dropped from the ceiling almost right behind Zack, also making a perfect landing.

"Infiltration successful!" Zack said cheerfully as he gave a fist bump to his brother

Tseng was the last one in as he came down fluidly with no issue. But just as he did, Genesis copies started running towards them seemingly out of nowhere.

Zack looked back towards Tseng. "Go on. We'll take care of this here and be with you in no time."

Tseng nodded and ran off to get to the next objective point. As he did, some of the clones tried to cut him off, but Cloud intercepted them.

"I don't think so."

Zack grinned at Cloud before going to slash at another copy. "Great attack there Cloud!"

"Thanks!" Cloud said as he took the time to jump out of the way of an oncoming attack.

After the copies were cleared out, they saw Tseng further down in the room. "Zack. Cloud. This way. Keep an eye out for enemies."

"Right! We got this!" Zack said.

After that the two of them walked through the upper catwalk area of the factory. Eventually they made it down to the main floor where they encountered more copies. But just like before, with the two of them working together, they got through them fairly fast.

Now that it was clear, the brothers proceeded into the next room where they saw Tseng on a computer. "Looks like the copies are being made here. Check the second floor. Genesis may be there."

Zack and Cloud ran forward into the next room ahead. Once they were inside, they saw what they were looking for; Genesis.

"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess. We see it thus, and take to the sky. Ripples form on the water's surface. The wandering soul knows no rest."

The redhead turned his gaze back towards the two SOLDIERs that had just entered. Zack stared in annoyance at the man sitting before him, who the cause of all of this.

"Settle down. Zack the puppy."

Zack's gaze grew even colder, as Cloud stood there confused by what was going on. He had been trying to figure out the situation as they went, but it didn't seem to make any sense. Though he knew what he had been told and had gathered the information along the way, a lot of it still felt fairly confusing.

Genesis then turned his attention toward the blond. "It seems you have some help this time too."

"So?" Zack scoffed.

A moment later Tseng ran into the room, going closer to the machine that hosted a Genesis copy still being made. "The grave at the house…" Tseng turned to face Genesis. "We found remains of our people there as well."

Genesis looked completely unphased. "It didn't take much to have them send false reports. Just some mild threats."

"They would have done that anyway. At least your parents would have," Zack replied.

Genesis was now scowling at the group. "My 'parents' betrayed me." He stood up from his spot. "They had always betrayed me, from the very beginning. What do you know?" Growling angrily he formed magic around his hand. "Shinra lapdogs!"

With the flick of his wrist he cast a high level fire spell directly at Tseng who had barely any time to react. He was hit and knocked back into the machine. He groaned before collapsing to the floor, now with flames trying to encase him. Right away Cloud ran over to him and cast a cure spell as quickly as he could. But the force of the knockback had already knocked Tseng out for the time being, but at least the flames were out and no further damage could happen to the man,

When Cloud looked back to Zack and Genesis, his eyes widened to see that Angeal was now standing in front of Zack. Angeal had Zack's sword and was pointing it directly at Genesis with his eyes dead set serious.

Genesis grinned. "I see, you've finally made your decision. I'll respect your wishes, old friend. However…"

He began to walk forward until he was standing shoulder to shoulder with Angeal. Without even giving Angeal a glance, he spoke. "Can you really live on that side?"

Genesis continued to walk forward and towards the doorway. Cloud glanced up from Tseng's side. He was about to make a move, but Genesis shot him a glance so cold he hesitated.

At the same time, Zack tried to process quickly what had just happened before his eyes. Angeal suddenly showed up and Zack had been searching for him for a while. But now, Genesis was getting away. He was torn.

When Angeal started to walk away though, Zack made his decision.

"Angeal!" he said in an attempt to hopefully talk to his friend.

When Zack got closer, Angeal pushed him away with his free hand. In the next moment he stabbed Zack's sword into the wooden floor.

Zack stood frozen for a moment, eyes locked on his mentor and friend. Just what could be going through Angeal's mind right now? He wanted to know, but he didn't even know what was on his mind either. The sudden appearance shocked him and he had yet to get his thoughts back in order.

Finally, Angeal spared him a look. "Tsk," was all he said as he turned back around and marched out of the room.

Zack wanted to go after him. He dislodged his sword from the floor as quickly as he could. He was about to run toward, but when he looked back up, Angeal was gone, just like Genesis.

Sighing heavily he tightened his grip around his sword. "Cloud you stay here with Tseng. I'll go on ahead and see if I can catch up with them."

Cloud wasn't even given any time to answer as Zack ran off the second after he finished speaking. Cloud was now on his own in the room, albeit for an unconscious Tseng. All he could wonder though was what could possibly be going through Zack's head after something like that.

tmart: Thanks for keeping up with the story so far and we hope you enjoyed!

Riku: And we will see you all next time!