Author's Note: You know, sometimes I do feel bad for what I put the characters through in my story but then I see the number of people that come back every week to keep reading and can't help but think I'm doing something right. Thank you all for your continued support of this story and for indulging my love of writing this twisting plotline.

Marken: I did a TON of research before starting this story and I knew I needed to use characters like Kunsel and Lazard in this. They are just so unique and have so much personality, even for the little that we do know about them. As to there being hell to pay, there most definitely will be, but maybe not the way you think... Actions have consequences for the mighty as well as the weak...

Beta Readers: Pixie, Kiza, and Discord.

I do not own FF7 or any of its characters. Talin, Unit 28, and some other side characters are mine.

Chapter 31

The quiet darkness of night greeted Talin as he opened his tired eyes. All he could see was a broad chest that rose and fell in a steady rhythm and he felt the air from each breath tickle along the top of his head. The warmth of arms that encircled him, holding him close, flexed slightly as the teen shifted.

"Talin?" Angeal's voice was hardly a whisper as he pulled back enough to look down. "How're you feeling?" Dark blue eyes traced the Cadet's face, looking for any signs of distress but found nothing but mild disorientation and confusion.

"I feel-" His lungs hurt as he took in more air for the words, "-sore. Inside and out." It was an understatement. He felt like he had been tossed into a ravine, rolling and crashing along the sharp walls all the way down. Angeal scooted closer and pulled Talin to roll forward against his chest. The heat of that larger body against his sensitive skin felt good, and he hooked his arm over the SOLDIERs waist to snuggle closer.

A big hand spread wide on his lower back and its warmth was like heaven on the aching muscles there. His eyes slipped shut again as he felt the hand start a slow massage and sighed in relaxation as the other hand started working between his shoulder blades.

Cautious not to rub too hard or too long in any one spot without massage oil, Angeal worked his way along his spine, shoulders, and finally to his neck. As he stopped, leaving one hand wrapped gently around the back of Talin's neck, he thought maybe he had fallen asleep again. A few moments of silence passed before the redhead stirred, tucking his head more firmly under Angeal's chin and laying a light kiss on his chest.

The big SOLDIER smiled at the small show of gratitude for his massage and gave a light squeeze to the back of the teen's neck. "You've been out of it for a while, do you need anything? Food, water, pain meds?" There was a slight shake of the head under his chin. Talin's stomach was achingly empty but the thought of food just then was nauseating. Medicine wouldn't be a bad idea eventually, but more than anything he needed answers.

Taking deeper breaths was still painful so he kept it short. "What happened?" There were so many parts to that question but for now, he would take what he could get. The grip on his neck tightened marginally before loosening again and he could tell that Angeal was deciding what to say.

"You remember going with the nurse?" Talin nodded, "And you remember getting knocked out by a stun gun or something like that?" The teen flinched, abs and chest contracting slightly at the remembered pain, and he nodded again slowly. "Zack had his phone silenced for a meeting, so we didn't know you were in trouble..."

Talin listened in startled silence as he was told the details of his rescue. About the 2nd Class SOLDIERs that had joined in the search, Director Lazard, and the nurse who had helped stabilize him in the lab. Angeal faltered for a moment as he described the condition they'd found him in, that he'd been badly overdosed on Mako, and that it had been slowly killing him. A cold chill went down his spine knowing that, if they hadn't found him when they did, he might never have left that room.

Angeal told him then of Naree and the hours upon hours that they'd waited as she worked to balance his overwhelmed system. The ending of the disquieting story was that he'd been asleep for almost three days before his terrified awaking earlier that night.

At the mention of the last event, Talin's mind churned with another question, one he didn't know how to ask. Reluctant to move far from the protective arms, he pulled just far enough back to look up, taking careful breaths as he spoke. "When I was... out, I was in the field... I felt... something." The teen's confused expression dropped to a contemplative one, trying to recall things he half-remembered. "I felt it again... when I woke up."

Realization lit Angeal's eyes. "You actually remember?" Talin simply nodded and then, seeing 'Geal's hesitance, hooked his arm tighter around the man's waist to convey his insistence on knowing. The SOLDIER sighed as he looked down into the Cadet's determined eyes and gave in. "I wanted to talk with you about it later since..." He'd been about to say 'since so much had happened' but decided against it. "...since you were so exhausted."

He paused and gathered his thoughts for the unexpected conversation. "Do you know anything about something called a Mako Aura?" The confusion on Talin's face was too cute for Angeal not to smile. "Obviously not, and with good cause. It's something that someone outside of SOLDIER wouldn't know anything about. What about telepathy?" The Cadet's confusion deepened, but he nodded. He knew the basics of what it was and that some creatures could use it but not how that related to-

His eyes went wide and he opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a light kiss. Angeal's smirk was unrepentant as Talin sighed in minor annoyance. "I'm getting there, just let me explain something first." The teen sighed again and laid his head back down to listen. "A Mako Aura is something that only develops in SOLDIERs who've had a great deal of Mako injections. Even saying that, not all of us end up with one or the ability to use it. For example," He continued with a small chuckle, "Gen and Zack have Auras, but can't use them."

It was a topic that had endlessly frustrated the other two 1sts. Zack had never been able to progress past basics due to his difficulty focusing and Gen... Well, Genesis was just a special case. He had one, but no ability to use it other than in a very limited scope.

Talin's curiosity wasn't indulged on the subject however. If he wanted to know, he could ask them later, but for now, Angeal moved the conversation back towards the original question. "I, on the other hand, have one and have full use of it." With the ease of long practice, Angeal reached out to his young lover, not expecting the Cadet's eyes to fly wide with alarm or a shiver to start along his spine.

The touch at the back of Talin's mind was just as it had been before, but this time, panic made his heart slam against his ribs and breath to catch in his lungs. Angeal felt the painful dig of nails into his back where Talin's hand had been gently petting his skin. "Shit," The curse was near silent and he very slowly started to pull his mind away from the Cadet's. His instinctual worry of too much, too soon, had been right and he cursed himself for not listening to the warning.

Pitching his voice low, speaking slow and steady, he tried to bring Talin back from the panic he saw growing in those green eyes. "Talin, it's alright, it's just me. I'll stop, ok? Just breathe for me, T. It's okay," The teen's breathing was slowing back to normal but the bite of nails still stung Angeal's back and the shaking hadn't stopped. "We can pick this up another time. You don't have to do this now... See? I've-" Just as he had fully pulled back from the mental touch, he felt something surge against him and saw frustration punch past the fear in Talin's eyes.

"No!" Jade green eyes shut tight and teeth clenched, Talin buried his head into Angeal's chest. He had shifted his hand so that he wasn't clawing the 1st any longer but still clung to him fiercely. "Don't stop..." The words were choppy, gasped out instead of spoken. "Do it again... I'm tired of being afraid... I'm not afraid of you... I won't be afraid anymore!" Although he could tell that the words were meant for him, it sounded like Talin was fighting to convince himself as well.

The SOLDIER was torn between the need to protect and wanting to help the Cadet passed an obvious fear. His arms had loosened at the first show of fright and now gently curled back around the still shivering form. His mind was made up when the same surge that had hit him before, pulled back, and dissolved away.

That wave of sensation had been Talin's untrained attempt to reach back out for him. That alone was significant but then there was also the violent slash of the Cadet's mind against Sephiroth he'd seen the other night. It was a lot of control for someone who didn't even know they had the ability, and it could be dangerous if left untrained.

Again, Angeal found himself irritated with his silver-haired lover. Why didn't you tell anyone, you handsome idiot? After a moment of silence, he agreed. "Alright, but if it's too much, you have to tell me. You understand?" The silent nod against his chest was all the response he had. The 1st slid his hand up into red hair, lightly rubbing his scalp as the other hand spread out once more on Talin's lower back. With great caution, Angeal reached out again and laid only one spectral finger against the formless cloud he found.

The shivers of the teen's spine stopped, so did his breathing, everything was still except the frantic beating of Talin's heart. Taking a small risk, the Commander slid his thumb over the Cadet's lower spine, caressing back and forth comfortingly, and it worked. The first breath was shallow, then another, and another. "You okay, T?" At the small nod, Angeal pushed further, and bit by bit, was eventually able to put his mind fully against Talin's.

By that time, the arm that had been squeezing around the SOLDIERs waist had relaxed. The redhead was very much awake, but laid completely still as he processed the all-enveloping feeling of Angeal's mind pressed against his. The ever-present feeling of calm that radiated off the man, also came across the mental contact and he felt his fear slowly ebb away the longer they remained together.

Angeal looked down and pressed a kiss to the top of Talin's head. The Cadet had done a good job, had fought his fear, and won. His reward would be more knowledge. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah," His voice was drowsy.

"Ya'know, I never finished telling you everything..." Talin's groan brought a smile to the SOLDIER's lips again and he decided to tease his Cadet a little. "Okay, then... I was going to explain more about how they work, but if you don't want to learn, I guess you could just leave yours untrained like Zack's..."

Talin made himself dizzy with the speed that he pulled back to look up at the grinning Commander. "What? Mine?" The laughing gleam in ocean eyes made him falter. "But you said... only SOLDIERs..."

"I did and, as far as I have ever known, it was only a SOLDIER trait, till now. The one thing we knew for sure was that it was related to how much Mako a person had absorbed. In your case, we can probably assume that your accident may have tipped that scale." The calm that kept feeding into him from Angeal was all that kept Talin functional as the new information sunk in.

He took a deep breath, noticing that it was getting easier, and pulled together his scattered thoughts. "How... How do you know for sure?" Angeal could have laughed at the warring emotions on the teen's face. It bounced from cautious excitement, to worry, to disbelief, and back to excitement. Deciding to stop teasing the poor exhausted Cadet, he shifted his mental presence and saw Talin's eyes go unfocused for a heartbeat when the movement distracted him.

"You felt that, didn't you? That alone proves that you do. Only someone with an Aura can sense another." Wanting Talin to truly get the point, the 1st ran his hand both down the redhead's spine physically and psychically over the teen's mind. It had a powerful effect, causing him to gasp and close his eyes while his brain tried to make sense of the combined touch.

Angeal remained unmoving till Talin opened slightly unfocused eyes once more. "Remember when I asked earlier if you knew about telepathy?" Excitement sparked in those green eyes as he nodded. Already pressed together as they were, the SOLDIER had only to push his words against any part of their connection, ~It's a very convenient way to communicate if you don't want to be overheard.~

Talin's shock held only amazed wonder as he heard the words, as if from his own thoughts but in Angeal's voice. "Now I want you to try." Eagerly, the Cadet followed each step and appreciated again that his lover was such a good teacher.

First, he was told to close his eyes and imagine a dark cloud of vapor hanging about his head, to gather it up, and change it from a shapeless mass to a human shape. As Talin obeyed, Angeal monitored the change of his real aura, smiling as it very slowly twisted into the shadowy form of his Cadet.

The next step was harder, moving that spectral body without moving his physical one. It was the part that Zack could never get past because of the amount of focus it took to not just move the figure, but to keep it from dissolving back into a cloud. Talin had similar problems. Moving the arm caused the hand to blur and then reform but it was still progress.

Angeal moved closer to try one more thing before calling an end to the training for now. "I want you to let the body dissolve for a moment, let it spread out a little, and see if you feel anything." Confused but willing, Talin did as asked, letting the shadow melt like ice into water. Keeping contact as it expanded, the sudden bump of it touching something made him open his eyes although they still remained unfocused while he concentrated.

The SOLDIER leaned over and whispered in Talin's ear as he pulled his Cadet flush against his chest. "Find that disturbance and reform your shadow next to it." Closing his own eyes, he watched the mental plane and saw the blackness coalesce back into its human form. He extended his shadowed hand halfway between them. "Take my hand, Talin, and push a thought between where we touch."

Still unable to 'see' as Angeal could, the redhead used the same trick from earlier, letting his hand dissolve and spread till he found the Commanders. When his hand took shape atop 'Geal's, he felt the connection snap into place and the now-familiar pressure settled again at the back of his mind. Unsure what to say, he pushed forward a single word. ~Hello?~

~Very good, Talin.~ The words were a proud purr in his head, ~I will teach you as much as you want to know another time, but for now...~ Angeal switched from mental speech to speaking aloud but the pride was still evident in his tone. "For now, you need to sleep and recover."

Talin felt the arms around him mimicked by spectral ones till the big SOLDIER told him to release his hold on the shadow. "Promise you'll teach me more tomorrow?" He already trusted the man's word but was too excited to learn and too tired to be tactful.

"I promise, I'll teach you tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. It's not tiring like Materia training so you can practice while you recover. Now, sleep." With that final promise and request, Angeal pulled the blanket up higher over them and brought his hand to the back of Talin's neck again to rub small circles till they both fell asleep.

Morning for the Commander and his exhausted Cadet didn't come till well past noon. Angeal refused to move till Talin woke and after the nighttime aura lesson, along with his slowly healing system, the teen slept several hours longer than normal. When he did finally stir and the lights were turned on, he was in for a mild shock.

The blue-green markings he had known since childhood, were different, having spread up to mid-bicep. Angeal told him what they had seen and that the spread had stopped shortly after Naree had stabilized him, but it was disconcerting. Not simply because they were even more obvious, but the possibility of there being too much Mako in him for his body to handle.

Tentatively, Talin reached for the reservoir of power, and found it, not overflowing as he'd feared, but as if someone had dug the well deeper and it had filled to the top again. He didn't feel out of control or bursting with energy that he needed to expend, it felt oddly normal. With a sigh of relief, he followed 'Geal to the shower before they went to get breakfast.

It didn't take long after that for Genesis and Zack to be over to check on him. The younger SOLDIER was overjoyed to see him up and scooped him into his arms with a powerful hug. Talin grumbled about being held like a baby till he was again set down but, deep down, he had enjoyed the affection.

Gen withheld his own urge to smother the teen in a hug till they had finished breakfast. With a quick pull, he had Talin curled in his lap on the couch. Originally, he'd hoped to tease the redhead some but when he saw the exhaustion still lingering in those green eyes, he relented. Instead, he repositioned them till the Cadet was between his chest and the back of the couch before undoing his leather coat and draping it over them both.

Zack was slightly annoyed when he found them, having had the same idea, but couldn't help his smirk when he saw the beloved coat being used as a blanket. Talin, you don't know how special that is...

The sound of quiet arguing woke the pair. As Talin tried to sit up, wanting to see what was going on, Gen pulled him back down. "You don't want to go down there just yet, Little Bird." It was then that he recognized the voices, Angeal, Zack... and Sephiroth. He listened harder.

"He's exhausted, Seph! You know what that shit does to people!" Zack was angrier than Talin had ever heard him.

"I do. And just like any SOLDIER, I know that he needs to expend the first buildup to recover properly." If Talin hadn't been so shaken, he would have heard the poorly hidden concern in the words, but all he heard was the taunting voice from the VR room.

"He will, but we can deal with that." Angeal was the calm between frost and fire, "He's been excused from his classes while he recovers-"

"Not from mine." It was a growl. "He will be there at the appointed time or I will come find him." The biting chill reached Talin's lungs and tremors started down his back once more. Gen winced hearing the finality in the General's tone and the slam of the apartment door. The Commander wasn't one to run from his problems, but he could tell that Talin wanted to.

Knowing he risked a violent reaction, Genesis crowded the Cadet more firmly back into the couch, overwhelming him and burying him behind his larger body. Hands gripped into his shirt and Talin gave a small struggle till the SOLDIER shifted his full weight against the panicked teen.

The quiet murmur of Gen's voice in his ear, the pressure that held him down, the hand that was threaded into his hair, it all brought him down from the ledge of fear. He felt hidden from the world, safe, and protected, but he knew it wouldn't last long.

...

"We'll be there with you, Talin." It had been Angeal's vote of confidence that had given him the strength to make up his mind. Gen had also supported the choice to go and meet the General, with backup of course. Only Zack had opposed it.

"You don't have to go. We can take you-" Talin hooked his finger with Zack's and the words trailed off. They had been back and forth over this since Sephiroth's unexpected visit and, as much as he wanted to avoid it, Talin knew that he needed to get it over with.

"I just... I want to get past this."

"But you're shaking even talking about it." The spiky-haired 1st looped his arms around the teen's shoulders rubbing along his back to try to quell that trembling.

"I know, but I can't hide forever. Why run from my fears when I have the strength, and support, to fight them?" Talin's eyes met Angeal's as he looked over Zack's shoulder and the older man nodded approvingly. The stoic 1st was still proud of Talin for pushing past his panic during their late-night aura lesson. He hadn't asked what caused such terror, whether it was something in his past or a more recent trauma, but the teen's determination to overcome it had eased Angeal's worries some about dealing with Sephiroth.

Zack finally dropped his arms from around Talin's shoulders. "Fine, but like 'Geal said, we're right behind you."

Genesis looked at the clock, "We'd better go before the fool comes looking." Talin heard the clink of metal and turned to see Gen holding out his blade harness and he halted. He hadn't worn them after the VR room, not because he didn't love the blades, but because of what they represented. He wondered, if he'd taken them that day, if maybe he would have found some way out of the lab. Or if the delay to put them on might have made him miss the nurse in the hallway.

Seeing his hesitance, the Red Commander slowly stepped forward. "Even if he gave them to you," Standing just in front of Talin now, he held them up again. "you've made them your own with every swing and block, every hour of training, and the care you took maintaining them." The pressure on Talin's chest eased slightly and he looked down at the blades.

He'd felt awkward leaving Zacks that morning without them, even paused at the elevator and thought about going back. Now he was thinking of doing the same thing again? Genesis was right. No matter his current issues with Sephiroth, they were his.

With a grateful look at the 1st, he turned his back and let the straps be slid up to his shoulders. The red leather-covered arms that wrapped around to his chest, pulled him back firmly against the SOLDIER while nimble fingers did up the buckles. When those fingers caressed down his sides after finishing, Talin remembered what Angeal had said about Gen, that he had permission... Maybe when this mess is cleared up, maybe then... Heart fluttering slightly at the idea, he headed towards the door.

The thought was enough to distract him as they walked down the hall to the training room but, as they got closer, his heart started beating harder. With an effort and one last deep breath, he stepped within its sensor range and it slid open to reveal the dark figure of the General waiting for him across the room.

Talin knew the chill in his lungs was just in his head, that his sudden inability to move would pass, and that there were three very protective SOLDIERs at his back, but he still felt fear as crystal green eyes rose to meet his. "Glad you could make it."

The casual tone was a trigger to Talin's anger and it burned through the cold dread like a flame through paper. How could he act so casually after what he did? After what I went through? The impetus of that question drove him to step past the doorway and into the room, holding onto his temper, but using it to keep himself moving. I can do this. I need to do this. If he wants to play it off as if nothing happened, then I-

Zack had just started to enter the room behind Talin and saw Sephiroth move a moment too late to do anything about it. The young Commander was shoved back out of the room and into a shocked Genesis. "Sorry. This is a private session today." Before any yell of protest or any attempt to renter the room could be made, the door snapped shut and the heavy magnetic locks thudded into place.

"Now. You and I have something to discuss, Cadet..."