It had taken one month after Cloud ran off with the little girl for Sephiroth to finally cave into wanting to follow them to be with his daughter, one long month of Zack hinting that the girl would be raised right by Cloud, but would not have a father figure or someone who knew enhancements like he did if Sephiroth doesn't leave Shinra to be with them, as Cloud clearly wouldn't let the little girl back into Shinra willingly if the ones who would hurt her were still around.

If Genesis and Angeal found out earlier about Degradation during that one month then they normally would, Zack said nothing about it, but he did say he knew a doctor who would be more then willing to help them find a cure because clearly the professors couldn't be trusted anymore since they were trying to experiment on a baby and had full intentions of taking the girl when she was older and turning her into an emotionless killer sworn to serve the man who 'created' her.

If that doctor refused to come to Midgar to see them and they had to come to where the doctor worked to get Angeal and Genesis a cure, well Zack celebrated in private the week before they all left. Only it didn't go the way he thought it would. Instead of the leave during the night and leave no trace behind approach that Zack was sure Angeal and Sephiroth would do, Genesis had them all leave with a flurry of flames and cheers, as almost all of Shinra's SOLDIERs and infantry left with them to find better lives than the one they were currently living in Shinra's army.

Zack just sighed and rolled with it when Genesis threw his arm around his shoulder and whispered "It's better to have the enemy weak and without an army so our beloved Saviour of the Planet has less to worry about. Relax and blow things up."

It took almost another month for him to lead the stubborn Generals and the army to the base of the mountain the doctor lived on, and by then a lot of the provisions the army had were already running low. It was just another thing Zack had to add to his ever-growing list of things to accomplish before sending Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal up the mountain to see the doctor. The army followed their General's not him.

Three months later Zack stood up on one of the ridges of the mountain and watched the construction of the Meeting Hall being finished, plans for more houses being laid out with construction for foundations starting on the ones that Sephiroth approved of. Genesis had taken to going into various towns with a small group of SOLDIERs accompanying him and helped solve monster problems or helped with fashion problems as long as it paid, all the money going into buying more supplies for the town, food for the troops, and hiring some farmers to help Angeal start growing crops and flowers in the space dedicated by Sephiroth as the more moist and nutrient-rich soil where they decided to live. Angeal had taken a shine to the local mountain wildlife, even the wildlife in the forest fell to his charms and gentle coaxing, so being attacked wasn't an issue anymore.

Overall, Zack knew he was doing a good job keeping an eye on the three generals of Shinra's ex-military. But he knew that wasn't good enough. The mountain range behind him was expansive but small, and much closer to Midgar then Zack remembered. The doctor was crazy living directly south of Midgar and due east of Junon, especially since they were trying to keep off Shinra's monitor. Being farther away would have been more beneficial. But, this was Cloud he was talking about, and Cloud would rather live closer to his enemies then away, one of the reasons Zack had decided to get them all to bunker down and live here at the base of the mountain. That and Cloud's castle is big, but not big enough to hold the entire army comfortably, if Cloud even let them through the gate.

He looked back down to see Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth all watching him, each with amusement. With a laugh and a quick dash, he leapt off the ridge and into the chaos that needed to be sorted this time. They were making lots of progress, no need to slow this down now!

~People who reread this might have noticed this, but just to clarify, Genesis and Angeal were promoted to Generals after Cloud took Rain and left. So they are all now Generals and Zack is still a second.~

Seven months after Cloud had taken his little girl, who Zack now knew was named Rain, something became amiss with Sephiroth. At first, Zack didn't notice anything more then Seph seemingly sleep-deprived, but just said Seph was staying up approving and changing plans to accommodate the needs of his soldiers, enhanced or not. But when he did, Zack knew he saw it before anyone. He knew from the various tics that Sephiroth started showing from past lives after Genesis and Angeal had left Shinra, and even before in some cases, that something was wrong. Sephiroth never tried to keep things from the three of them even if he had a hard time explaining what was wrong, so walking in on Sephiroth braiding and then unbraiding his hair over and over while staring out his window seemingly unaware he had entered the room, was highly concerning.

"Seph?" Zack called, his hand drifting slightly towards the hit of his sword. "You okay?"

"She keeps crying," was all Sephiroth said, not even glancing over at Zack.

Zack stopped in his tracks, his brain screeching to a halt. Sephiroth didn't get on him for the nickname, Sephiroth wasn't looking at him, Sephiroth was talking about someone Zack couldn't hear. Was Jenova near? Was she calling Sephiroth earlier than planned?

"Who keeps crying Seph?" Zack asked, moving to stand beside Sephiroth, but also out of arm's reach, you could never be too careful around Sephiroth when he was like this.

Sephiroth then turned to look at Zack, his eyes hazy as if he was completely out of it. "The girl in my dreams. The one with hair such a beautiful light golden color it's almost pure silver. The one with eyes a brighter blue than the sky, that glow brighter than the sun itself."

Zack was taken for a loop, surely that couldn't be Jenova, but at the same time, it couldn't be anyone else. But why would Jenova show herself like that to Sephiroth?

Zack reached out and grabbed Sephiroth's hands to stop the continuous braiding movements. "What is she saying?"

Sephiroth's eyes were slowly clearing up, as if he was waking from being asleep slowly. "She keeps crying, begging for help, asking to be saved. She's scared. Alone."

Zack pulled Sephiroth from the window, slowly leading him to the sofa in the middle of the room. "Do you know her name Seph?"

Sephiroth's brow scrunched in thought, or maybe he was trying to see something better, something beyond Zack and the room. "No, she's not alone. Someone is there with her. Fear, so much fear. She knows that person will hurt her. She's in danger."

Zack closed his eyes and tried to imagine what Sephiroth was seeing but couldn't piece the parts together. He opened his eyes to see Sephiroth's eyes were clear and sharp, he was no longer in that in-between state. "Seph?"

"What are you doing, Zackary?" And the moment was over. Sephiroth was no longer being called by the unknown female.

Zack jumped to his feet, pulling his hands from Sephiroth's in the process, throwing his hands behind his head and looking out the window to see Sephiroth's reflection. "You went weird on me man. Talking about hearing and seeing things that don't exist."

Zack watched as Sephiroth's eyes darkened slightly in the window, how Sephiroth clenched his hands and then released them.

"I wasn't aware I was doing anything but resting my eyes for a few moments." Came the reply Zack knew was a lie.

Zack pondered his options for a few minutes, just watching Sephiroth come to terms with things, even reaching up to grip the pale pink materia he kept on a chain around his neck. With a nod, Zack swung around and learned towards Sephiroth as if about to share a secret, halfway across the room. "I hear voices too sometimes. See things that never happened. Maybe you're seeing future events?"

Sephiroth looked up at Zack with clear confusion in his eyes. "I what?" Clearly this wasn't something Sephiroth even considered.

"Or maybe you're just going crazy. I don't know. I'm not a doctor. But the next time you start feeling like you're being mentally dragged away, call for me or Gen. We might not be able to ground you, but we will be able to help you sort through it better."

Zack started walking towards the door. He knew Seph was still watching him but he couldn't be cool and confident anymore.

"A lot of shit has happened since we left Shinra and destroyed a large part of the military and SOLDIER holdings. It's taking a toll on us to keep going and providing for the ones that followed us from Shinra. Please, Seph. Don't try to do this on your own. I don't care if you have to wake me up in the middle of the damn night to talk about it, because I know you remember it. Don't keep this to yourself. It only results in pain."

And with that Zack was back to being that cheerful and confident SOLDIER everyone knew as he walked out of the small house and into the chaos of the repairs and building of the small mountain town they were building. Zack was suddenly extremely thankful, though he would never say this aloud, that the town they were calling home now was literally a days run from Cloud's mountain castle. Made his life much easier, just in case Sephiroth was being called by a new entity they knew nothing about.

"Now to find Gen and let him know."

~Zack is a precious boy and no one can convince me otherwise.~

Sephiroth knew he had fallen asleep in his bed that night after Zack and Genesis insisted one of them stay with him at all times, with Zack in the chair in the corner, so he was almost convinced that Zack had somehow managed to move him into the woods while he was sleeping. Except he could still feel the blankets and mattress while he was standing in a snow-covered forest pathway, and it was midsummer when he had fallen asleep so there shouldn't have been any snow. Looking around revealed nothing to him other than he was pretty deep in the winter woods and nothing was around to make marks in the snow. Even standing ankle-deep in the snow and moving his right foot back and forth on the ground didn't disturb it.

"So I'm back here again?" He muttered aloud, looking back around again. "Where is she then?"

"Get back down here now!" Came a shout from a voice so painfully familiar. Sephiroth's head whipped towards the sound in time to see Hojo, older with a head of gray hair and skin sickly pale, come stumbling from behind a thicker cluster of trees, black lifeless eyes glaring death towards the sky.

Sephiroth looked up to follow Hojo's eyes and felt an unexplainable surge of pride fill him. In the sky just above the trees was the girl he was looking for, two beautiful golden-white angel wings protruding from her back. He could tell instantly that she had escaped Hojo and was trying to lose him in the woods by not leaving anything for him to follow, but the gunshot that rang out reminded Seph that Hojo was a persistent bastard that did anything to keep his experiments.

Sephiroth was angry, but he knew he couldn't do anything about what was happening, he had tried before in the labs and nothing happened. Just like with the snow, he went through everything.

He watched as the girl trembled, struggling to keep herself in the air as one of her wings started turning red. Hojo shot again, and she cried out in pain as the bullet cut into her back where the wings were attached. He knew he couldn't do anything to help her, but that didn't stop him from running to her and trying to catch her from the sky.

Except something did happen, something Seph didn't know if he was the cause or if she was the cause. She had stopped falling when he wrapped his arms around her, cradling her close to his chest. He carefully crouched to the ground and held her tightly, if he was influencing this then Hojo wouldn't get her back easily.

"You are quite a handful girl," the monster in human skin growled as he limped closer. "You still have your mother's fighting spirit apparently. Along with your father's genius mind to pick up on so much as fast as you do."

The girl whimpered, her hand gripping Sephiroth's coat tightly. "Just leave me alone. I didn't do anything to you."

Hojo smirked, leaning down to grab the girl, laughing as if she had just told a joke. "You are the daughter of my greatest experiments, you belong to me."

"She doesn't belong to you," Sephiroth hissed, standing up, breathing a mental sigh of relief as the girl stayed in his arms. "And she never will."

He saw the confusion in Hojo's eyes before it turned into an obsessed interest, just like when he had first summoned his sword from nowhere. He had enough of the monster eyeing her like she was an object to be poked and prodded, so he summoned his own wing and took to the skies himself, watching as a single black wing drifted down and landed in Hojo's eyes, making Hojo miss the shot he had tried to take at them.

Sephiroth was gone with the girl in his arms before Hojo even reached up to remove the feather. And with a simple thought, he heard Hojo scream in rage as the black feather turned to nothing in his hands.

Sephiroth flew until he saw a cliff overlooking a seaside port town, or what was left of the port town anyway. It looked as if the town had been hit with multiple tsunamis and other natural disasters that had turned it into an abandoned waterside ruin. The events that took the life from the town must have happened decades ago for plant life was slowly taking over the ruins and the land the town had taken from it.

A deep groan came from his right, but a quick glance showed no one there. 'It's most likely Zack shifting to get more comfortable,' He thought quickly. 'As long as he doesn't try to wake me before I help her.' A soft whimper from his arms brought his attention back to the girl he was carefully cradling.

"Careful little bird," Sephiroth found himself saying. "Your wings are injured. I need to find the proper tools to help you heal. Don't move too much."

Getting a slight nod from the girl, he moved to set her gently against a large rock at the top of the cliff, only for her to grip tighter to his coat and prevent him from setting her down without laying on top of her.

"..."

Sephiroth blinked, shook his head and then picked her up again, moving to carefully glide down the cliff. She had muttered so softly he hadn't managed to make out what she said, but the fact that she was relaxing while still in his arms was telling enough, she hadn't wanted to be alone, even if she could still see him and him her.

Unless she couldn't see him and was scared that when he let go of her he would cease to exist.

He pushed that thought out of his head quickly, focusing more on finding a building that looked like a clinic or general store, though it was harder to distinguish the buildings then he thought, too much damage and not enough left in place of walls, roofs, and signs. Finally after searching much longer then he should have, he found a more intact building hidden in the trees and behind the rocks, the elements hadn't caused the structure to fall apart entirely yet and he was thankful. Even more thankful when the building was a small abandoned clinic, and he found the means to get water, sterilize it and the tools he needed, and the means to bandage the wounds the girl had sustained.

It was a painful process pulling bullets out of a person's body, but the girl didn't scream or cry. No, she just laid on her stomach and let him tend to her wounds, giving him a small smile before she passed out on the bed.

Sephiroth sighed and ran his hand over his head through his hair. The girl was safe now, far enough away that Hojo wouldn't find her before she healed and moved on. He found himself looking down at his hands covered in her blood, the bullet in her back had been deeper than he thought, and knew he had to clean his hands. Groaning as he stood, Sephiroth moved to the dirty mirror and wiped some of the grim away so he could see just how much blood he had gotten in his hair, only to freeze. Looking back at him in the mirror was what Sephiroth knew he would look like when he started hitting his elder years, but his eyes were just as vibrant as ever, his body still muscled, lean, and strong, his wing still as dark as the moon and starless skies, only the fact that he had wrinkles and some of his hair was turning white at the roots instead of silver let on how old he really was.

It was that image that swam before his eyes as he jolted awake in bed, eyes staring at Zack even if his mind hadn't caught up to what was before him.

"Seph?" Zack asked quietly, and then his brain kicked in to take in the fact that Zack had his hand on the handle of the sword on his back, he had even started to pull it off the harness.

"Your right," He whispered. "I'm seeing the future. I'm seeing the girl's future as an observer. But I'm also there with her. I saved her."

Zack could only smile and relax his stance. "Of course you'd save her, you're a great man, you'd never let anyone suffer if you could do something about it."

As Sephiroth got ready for his day and followed Zack out of the house, he couldn't shake the feeling as if Zack was lying to his face with a smile. He didn't feel like a good person, the war proved that, but if Zack could see something he couldn't, well, he'd just trust in the young SOLDIERs perception. No need to make things harder on himself by adding unnecessary stress.

~Sephiroth will explain everything in better detail later, but enjoy the mystery around his 'visions'.~

The trip to Kalm was a quiet and peaceful one, even though Zack knew that Genesis and Sephiroth were radiating anger and were barely holding back the curses and remarks that they wanted to make to him. He had talked to Angeal about needing to get some new supplies from Kalm for the still-unnamed town they had almost finished building and had easily convinced the man to come with him. Genesis had followed when Zack had flashed the copy of Loveless that Genesis always carried with him and said he'd burn it if Gen didn't come. Sephiroth was the more troublesome one, the only things he tended to actually care about was a pale pink materia that he kept on a chain around his neck that he wouldn't speak about, the Masamune, and his personal living space, and Zack had no way of holding those hostage to make Sephiroth follow him unless he wanted to die. So with great care and wording, Zack had convinced Angeal that going to Kalm would be a great distraction for Sephiroth's overworked mind, and Angeal jumped on it to drag Seph with them, even Genesis joined in to drag the Silver General from his troops and town.

Zack was never so happy that they were enhanced as he did that day, because he had heard through the grapevine and his friends, that every SOLDIER and trooper still stationed in Kalm, the only Shinra military stronghold left, were going to be hidden away in the HQ outside the walls to listen for new directions and orders from Shinra. The same grapevine told him that Shinra was still withholding the information that the three Firsts had deserted with almost every military personnel in the entire order that had been at the tower that night. Which meant that Spike wouldn't know that they had left. He only hoped his timing was good enough to catch Spike and his group unaware and still in Kalm for business.

"So we're all being forced out to gather supplies that the two of you could have gotten just fine on your own?" Genesis snapped as they walked into Kalm at long last.

Zack sighed and kept moving forward, his eyes on the sky. They did have things to grab, but he also needed the extra legs to catch Spike and his group if they found them. But he couldn't tell them that, they would be insistent that the supplies were not important and only catching Spike was important. A quick prayer to the Goddess that his plan actually worked and then Zack was bouncing around and dragging Angeal in different directions and then into different stores.

Eventually, the three SOLDIERs had forgotten their ire with him and were fully enjoying themselves browsing the hardware stores for more supplies in making the furniture and houses, the art stores for new paint choices, fabric stores for new cloths and machines to make new military outfits, casual wear, blankets, pillows, etc. Zack had managed to make a deal with all the stores, they bought what they needed today and brought back people to help them move it all before the week was over.

Zack was having so much fun on this outing with his friends and Generals that he had forgotten that Cloud was supposed to be in town that day, only remembering a second too late as a very young voice rang out saying "Dada!" All four heads wiped around to look at the group of people, two very clearly Cloud and his daughter, the others looking for all the world like very misplaced tourists that were supposed to be in the middle of making a trip to the Gold Saucer by the way of the Corel Desert.

Cloud spun around to face all of them, Zack saw him lean slightly closer to the others he was with and whisper something he couldn't make out. When Seph took a step forward the group before them scattered, two of them turning into a red daze and then disappearing quickly into nothingness. Zack caught on quickly, much quicker than his friends, and tried to run after them, only to find his face meeting the ground and then the impact of three more bodies on top of him. A quick shift of his legs told him he tripped up someone who had tried to move into the same space of him, and the softer call of "Bye Dada" was all they got before the group disappeared from view altogether, the four SOLDIERs still a tangle on the ground.

Zack let his head fall back to the ground as the others started moving to disentangle themselves from on top of him. He wasn't looking forward to the questions and the search that would follow, Gaia knew Seph was obsessed with them enough, but seeing them before he was ready to was enough of a headache that Zack didn't need. Unless he hit his head harder than he thought on the ground and this was just the normal head pains of being crushed under almost six hundred pounds of pure muscle.

Nonetheless, this was going to continue being a painful experience.

~Much love and internet cookies for anyone who can guess who Zack's grapevine is.~

As Zack ran all he could think was everything was going downhill faster than President Shinra fell asleep in his old age. No one had expected the attack that had set everything on fire, nor for the specialized troops that had ripped though everyone effortlessly as if they were nothing more than butter. Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth were the only ones to actually hold their own against the attackers, but Zack had been kicked aside easily, only still alive because Sephiroth had the longer sword in the battle with the attackers. Zack didn't hesitate to run, he knew he had to get help and the only help was on the mountain hopefully home and willing to help.

Zack didn't stop for anything, leaping and climbing like his life depended on it, and with the sound of bullets and explosions following him he highly doubted that he was alone on the mountain. He pushed himself harder, ignoring the burning pain as he ran faster than his body could handle, ignoring each cut and scrape from the few trees and the unstable mountain rocks, even ignoring the pain as a few bullets buried themselves into his arms and sides, he could handle it. He was a SOLDIER. When he saw the mist curling around the mountains hiding what was inside the misty area, he just about cried out in joy. And with a final burst of energy, he pushed through the misty barrier and just about slammed face-first into the first tree before him.

Zack slowed down, his head was starting to fill fuzzy, his body wet and heavy. He was losing blood quickly if the loss was already getting to him. Zack shook his head and kept moving, he needed to reach Cloud and tell him everything before he passed out. The others didn't know about this place yet so they wouldn't know how to reach him or even look for him here and he couldn't even think about if they had killed his friends while he was making the mad dash up the mountain.

Finally, the gate came into view and Zack tried to open it, and when it proved too much for his quickly weakening body, he slammed his fist into the gate as hard and as fast as he could, only stopping when Cloud was close enough to see him in the dark night. With a trembling hand, he reached out back towards the base of the mountain and coughed.

"Cloud we need help," another coughing fit had Zack almost falling to his knees, the only thing keeping him up was Cloud's grip on him, his eyes wide with fear and concern. "Attacked. Too strong. Seph, Gen, and Ang were the only ones still fighting when I ran."

"Where?" came the only reply Zack knew he was going to get. Cloud had picked him up and was walking towards the castle he had come from. When had he collapsed?

"Bottom of the mountain by the river in the direction of Midgar," Zack reported dutifully before the world went black.