Marken: OMG I'm sorry! I thought I hit the approve review button but I didn't! I just got them up! I think most of us want the best for Talin and the SOLDIERs. Seph certainly wants the best for him, he just has a difficult time figuring out what is best for the poor boy sometimes.

Author's Note: So I noticed how many times ya'll read the chapter that Talin and Seph had some... fun soooo...

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

Enjoy and please R&R.


Chapter 58

Talin's sleep had been fitful at best that night. His dreams were haunted by phantom figures that screamed into the smoke-filled darkness. They pointed accusing fingers at him as they burst into flames before withering into silent heaps of char and ash at his feet. He'd wake, sitting bolt upright and frantic to escape the specters, but the scream that wanted to escape him couldn't push past the knot of fear in his throat. It was a very long night...

The storm had been as persistent as the nightmares. The heavy rain drowning out any trail they may have left the day before, and only slowed to a light drizzle as the pair of SOLDIERs untangled themselves from one another in the early hours before dawn.

Talin looked worse for the attempted sleep and Sephiroth, concerned for both the mental and physical health of his trainee, considered their next move carefully. He didn't have many options to ponder and came to a decision while they were stowing the last of their gear.

The new Lieutenant stood to one side of the cave checking his blades after their cold breakfast. Finding nothing that couldn't wait for a proper cleaning, Talin gave a practiced swing to the harness, intending it to land over his shoulders, and was startled when the steel and leather didn't hit his back. A glance behind him showed Sephiroth holding the straps of the harness and, although confused, the teen released his hold when his General lightly pulled on it.

"You won't be needing these today." Talin may have been tired, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what his mentor meant by that statement and it showed. Sephiroth continued when it was obvious his trainee hadn't caught on. "This mission is trivial. Minor enough that a SOLDIER should never have been diverted to waste their time on it, let alone a 3rd and a 1st. As such, there's no point in you coming with me so-"

"No! I'm going! It's my mission, too!" Talin's outburst wasn't unexpected and Seph restrained the urge to sigh.

"Talin-"

"I'm going with you! Give me my swor- ." The redhead reached for the bundle of straps and the General's reaction was swift. Countering that reaching hand with a deft grab and twist, Sephiroth had Talin lightly pinned to the wall before he could finish his demand.

"Lieutenant." The warning in that lone word was soft and snapped the teen back to reality. He was a Lieutenant and this was not just his lover's lover, or his future lover, but his General, and he'd challenged an order while on mission.

"I- I'm sorry... Sir." Talin couldn't fight the blush of frustrated embarrassment. "I just... I want..." Giving up trying to explain his misconduct, he sighed and dropped his head as much as possible in the restrained position.

Giving in to the sigh he'd previously withheld, Seph released his grip and turned his charge back around to make him look at him. "I can think of five reasons you shouldn't go on this mission. If- " The 1st's hand landed over the redhead's mouth as he opened it to argue. Talin fought the urge to nip the leather of the glove as he was forced to let his mentor finish. "If you can give me one good reason to take you with me, I'll consider it."

Sephiroth dropped his hand, saw the gears rapidly turning behind jade green eyes, and waited for them to slow.

"It's my mission too. I accepted it. I need to see it through." The stubborn look that flickered to life on Talin's features was as predictable as his first argument. The arch of one silver eyebrow was enough to tell the teen to try again.

"That's not good enough." Had this been a more normal situation, Sephiroth would have been tempted to tease the redhead, but this was far from a joke. Glancing out at the lightening sky showed that they had very little time left to settle the matter. "I need to leave soon. Last chance..."

Talin hadn't truly expected the tact to work, but he had hoped that the man would've cracked even the smallest smile at his dumb attempt. The firmness and unemotional analysis of his answer left the teen floundering. When the 1st turned once more to look at the sky, Talin's mind offered up possibly the only real reason he had for wanting to go.

"I... want to go." He dropped his eyes from his General before he could turn back. Not that he didn't want to look at him, but he was having a hard enough time piecing the words together without meeting the silver SOLDIER's distracting gaze. "I wanna see... what remains. It sounds like a crap idea, even to me, but I feel... like if I face what I did, maybe the nightmares will stop."

It had been a thought that pricked at the back of his skull since they landed in the region, but till that moment he hadn't been able to fully admit what drew him back to the place he'd fled. The silence after his confession was uncomfortable and, thinking he wasn't convincing enough, Talin threw the last card he had on the table.

"You kept talking about fighting my demons, that you'd be behind me when I did, so let me fight. They might only be in my head but-"

"Lieutenant." Startled, Talin looked up and flinched when he saw the lack of emotion on his mentor's face. "Turn around." That made the redhead more nervous. Compliance with the order cost him a shred of sanity as his mind skittered back to the last time he'd seen the emotionless mask. Firmly, Talin reminded himself that this hadn't been that mask, that the SOLDIER's voice had been quiet and even, but not frozen in ice. Facing the wall, all he could do was listen and wait.

The scrape of boots and the click of metal buckles was for his benefit, he knew his General could move without making such sound, but it made Talin's anticipation worse. The last boot step fell right behind him and the teen felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end, but he could no longer tell if it was a primal warning... or excitement. Somewhere in his mind, the two had become mixed together when it came to Shin-Ra's great silver General. He had a feeling neither would be separate from the other ever again.

The shock of a heavy weight over his shoulders made Talin jump almost out of his skin, but, between the rock wall in front of him and the powerful 1st behind, the teen was unable to do anything more. Only when leather-coated arms encircled him and started fastening buckles did he realize it was his blade harness that had been slung over him. The relief of knowing he'd passed that test, that Seph wasn't mad at him, and that he was going with, made the young fighter sag against the form that stepped in closer behind him.

Talin always appreciated whenever one of the 1sts did this for him, but Sephiroth doing so was even more special. He'd been the first to help Talin into the harness, in the garage workshop of the weaponsmith, and then was the one to gift the pair of blades to him. It felt right to have him there and, as he watched the deft fingers loop and latch the straps in place, he couldn't help the thought of them undoing the same buckles with equal skill.

"Keep your thoughts on mission or I really will leave you here, Cadet." The purr in his ear and the use of his once title, now pet name, made goosebumps race over the redhead's skin. He wanted to laugh and growl at the same time from the contradicting statement and intent. He settled for a scoff as the last strap was secured and then had to bite his tongue when leather gloved hands skimmed down his sides. "Let's get going, we can finish this when we get back." The firm squeeze of hands on his hips left no doubt to the 'this' before they were gone.

Willing his body to calm down, Talin gave a little tug to his harness, a habit to double-check the blades were secure, and then turned to follow his General. The small smirk was back on the man's lips as they left into the gloom of early morning. Not wanting to leave a new set of muddy tracks to be followed back to their cave, the two SOLDIERs took to the trees for the first mile and then lay a trail from a different direction as they started towards the village.


Author Note: Don't hate me! xD I promise there will be LOTS of fun later. We just have to get through this story element and there will be SO many fun times.

I will even be taking writing suggestions for one-shots of our favorite SOLDIERs so let me know your ideas!

Thank you all for reading! Please don't forget to R&R and Favorite the story to get notified when I update!

See you next week!