OooOOoOooo
Chapter 6
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Sephiroth exerted all of his considerable self control to keep from clenching his hand into a fist. It would crumple the paperwork he was holding and that would not do. Then it would be obvious to all that he was upset.
On top was a list of the returning SOLDIERs. Beneath that, the ones still MIA and last known locations, length of time missing, pertinent personal information... and on the desk all the files of all the SOLDIERs in both categories. Sorting through the information was a nightmare. One that had previously been Lazard's problem and that of his staff. But now with all the 'vacationers' it was being left to Sephiroth to determine what their loyalties were. At least officially. But the General was in no mood to leave his SOLDIERs to the hands of the Turks if he was not thorough enough on confirming their allegiance or brutal enough with their punishment.
And then came the matter of assigning someone to track all the remaining missing down. Command would not let him go to find them as the idea of so many questionably loyal mako-enhanced fighters, including two only beatable by himself, in the Headquarters without any form of security... basically it was not an order he could countermand. But they certainly would not let any of the defectors go on a bring-back mission for fear they would disappear again (potentially with more ShinRa secrets). Which left Zack and Kunsel. Who were off haring about the countryside already trying to track these cold trails. And reporting disturbing news that not all of the trails led to voluntary leaving. Some trails definitely pointed to capture by Wutai... and some to capture by ShinRa Science Department. Not that Zack or Kunsel put that in their reports, of course, though Kunsel might have known that was what the descriptions in the report implied.
Sephiroth set the lists down and felt his face become cold and emotionless as he contemplated the situation. He could not get management to trust the returning SOLDIERs. And he did not have enough people on the search. Even if he were to be allowed to go, there would not be enough. Even if he did get enough men... could he go against ShinRa? The very idea made him uneasy.
And what to do about the war in Wutai. Without any SOLDIERs more experienced than a few novice Seconds helping the regular army, progress had ground to a halt.
Sephiroth gathered the files and strode around his desk and out the room.
"General." Lazard looked up in surprise.
Sephiroth slapped the files down on the Director's desk. "We need to negotiate a cease-fire with Wutai."
"What!?"
"SOLDIER is unable to support the Army any further with this effort. We need to focus on internal affairs. The operation is too much of a drain on our resources and has been for some time. It needs to end."
"We can't just pull out." Lazard protested.
"Yes, we can. Wutai cannot send more than raiding parties to harass ShinRa. They will not have the capacity. This we can handle."
"If we just show them a tremendous force..." He trailed off. The original plan had been to send Sephiroth. Had been about to deploy him when news of Angeal and Genesis' return had spread.
"There is no display of power that at this juncture that will not leave us weak. We must accept that there is going to be a competitor for the time being. We already hold an almost perfect monopoly. Perhaps the Wutai can serve as another target for the environmental terrorists." Sephiroth said dryly.
"More likely to serve as a base of power for the terrorists." Lazard retorted.
"Perhaps." Sephiroth shrugged. "I do not care overly much for the politics of the situation. I just know that my hands are tied with the restrictions." He added a stapled report to the files. "Here is my official statement."
Lazard looked at the stack of papers as if it were Masamune... or perhaps, that he would prefer it was a sword.
"I leave it to you to bring this to the proper attentions." Sephiroth said flatly. "I have already posted the report to the appropriate offices."
Lazard looked pale but he accepted the report and pulled it to him. "Thank you, General."
Sephiroth nodded and spun gracefully on his heel and walked out of the office. He still felt disgruntled about the situation, but at least he wasn't the one who had to deal with President Shinra or Heidegger.
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Genesis was irritated. Irritated that he was trailing after the chokobo-head, irritated that he was a second-class employee, irritated that Angeal seemed to think it was only right due to their breach of 'honor', irritated that his god-dammed hair kept falling in his face! He blew an errant strand away from his mouth for the umpteenth time. His damn hair was growing so fast ever since that mako dip. Which lead him back to being irritated about the little blond in front of him. The man was far too happy to be sent on a monster extermination mission. And much too relaxed. Poodler were no joke enemy. Even Genesis was going to be a bit cautious dealing with the numbers that had been reported. But the blond was practically skipping!
"Lighten up, Genesis!" Cloud said cheerfully. "It's not every day you get to go down to the slums."
Genesis stared at the blond, too at a loss to even quote his favorite play.
"And here we are!" Cloud enthused, leaping into the abandoned warehouse with a battle cry.
The SOLDIER stood back, peering into a window to see if he would need to rescue the idiot. Not that he would if the other needed it. It would be his own damn fault. But the scene that greeted his eyes was not one of wanton massacre of chocobo-like humanoids. "What are you doing? Where the hell did you get that much duct tape?!" Genesis shouted hysterically.
Cloud looked up from where he was stuffing the soft end of the Poodler into its shell in confusion. "Well I can't leave them hanging out. They can still attack that way."
"'When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end...'" Genesis muttered in shock.
"And then we'll have to find a Wutai restaurant." Cloud muttered to himself. He slapped another piece of duct tape into place with an air of satisfaction and began wrestling the next Poodler into submission. He seemingly ignored the jets of fire shooting out of the four remaining Poodler and the occasional shell slamming into him.
"A Wutai restaurant?" Genesis sputtered. "You do realize we are at war with them, right?"
"Oh we are?" Cloud looked up in surprise. His moment of inattention let the Poodler wrap its tentacles around him and try to choke him. Cloud groped the tentacles and pulled them out of his shirt before stuffing it into the thing's shell and taping it closed. "That's odd you're still are, considering the disparity of forces. Why don't they just send Sephiroth?"
"It's complicated." Genesis grit out.
"What, like 'we don't trust all you people that were probably going to destroy our company' complicated from ShinRa's perspective?" Cloud asked with a wry grin.
"'Their fates are scattered by war...'" Genesis quoted with a groan.
"You brought it on yourselves." Cloud said with a complete lack of sympathy. He secured the last Poodler and surveyed his handiwork in the twitching shells in front of him. "What a haul, huh? We're going to eat well tonight. On to that restaurant."
"There is no Wutai restaurant, and even if there was, you can't just go there when we are at war with them." Genesis growled in exasperation. "And what the hell are you doing with those Poodler? You were supposed to kill them."
"No." Cloud grinned broadly as he stuffed the shellfish into a sac. "I was supposed to get rid of them. Note me getting rid of them."
"Just kill them already!"
"No way. I have a vow of..." Cloud gave a funny look. "Er... whatever you call not killing things."
"Non-violence?" Genesis hazarded.
"Absolutely not. Did you see me with those things? That is no time for 'non-violence'. I just am not going to kill them." Cloud hmmed into his hand and looked up contemplatively. "At least, not on purpose."
"'He is guided by hope that the gift will bring bliss.'" Genesis quoted sarcastically. "Why did I get assigned this fool?" He muttered under his breath.
"Don't worry, Genesis. You'll love Wutai food. Nice and spicy. And they have a real way with shellfish."
Genesis scowled and headed off in a random direction. There was no way he was putting up with this crap.
"Hey, wait! It's this way."
Genesis growled and tried to avoid the hand grabbing at him, but finally surrendered to the inevitable and let himself be dragged along. Though not without a pathetically moping face.
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"Well?" Cloud prompted.
Genesis scowled at him, but internally he had to admit that Poodler stir fry was extremely tasty.
Cloud happily continued slicing the monsters to the exacting standards of the ecstatic Wutai chefs. They were becoming annoying with the constant exclamations of joy and incredulity.
"So if you cut it just so it does not return to the Lifestream?" Cloud asked the head chef.
"Exactly so. If they are separated in a certain way from the body, then it does not fade away as do the rest of the organics." The man said enthusiastically, his damn squinty eyes alight with excitement.
Genesis stuffed food in his mouth to refrain from commenting on fraternizing with the enemy. It helped that the flavors practically made him swoon.
"Thanks a lot, guys. I feel like I have learned a lot." Cloud said happily.
"We appreciate your efforts to get us the ingredients and to help us properly prepare it." The chef bowed low before the blond, who rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Oh, no problem! I'm getting paid for the mission by ShinRa and now by you, too, with the food!" He said happily.
Genesis sighed and stood up. "We should get going."
"'The wandering soul knows no rest.'" Cloud mourned.
Genesis looked at the blond in shock. Had he just...
"What? You aren't the only one who can quote from plays." Cloud huffed defensively. "In fact, I think I will usurp your position and start to quote from other plays. What do you think? Then we could get into a contest of who could discern the most references."
Genesis slowed and then stopped, turning to face Cloud. "You... want to quote 'Loveless'?" He asked incredulously.
"Sure. Can't let you have all the fun."
Genesis felt tears welling up in his eyes and furiously thought about something else to get the prickle to disappear. He didn't realize how emotional he could get about the damn play- even if it was the best work ever done by man. "Don't expect me to take this lying down." Genesis cautioned.
"'To seek the answer together, once again'" Cloud replied smugly.
"'There is no hate, only joy'" Genesis replied with a quirked eyebrow.
Cloud grinned at Genesis and sauntered off, leading the way back to the trains and the upper Plate.
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Zach let out a loud sigh of happiness as he flopped into the couch near his mentor. He quickly stripped the wrapping off the candy bar he'd just bought and bit into it with a loud groan of bliss.
Angeal looked at him sideways, but otherwise did not acknowledge his student. Which was sort of odd, actually. And was he wearing earphones? What the...
Zach frowned and looked around. Nothing seemed particularly amiss in the SOLDIER lounge. There were several other people there, though most of them seemed to be rushing in and back out again. Actually... maybe it just looked like a normal number of people because there were more SOLDIERs back at ShinRa? Zach had gotten rather used to it being deserted and when he left it had just been getting more populated again. The only people who were not really just passing through were Angeal, Genesis and that strange blond guy that had fought the General a bit before he got sent on all the recovery missions.
"Hmm." Zach watched the redhead and the blond, trying to figure out the conundrum. That's when he actually tuned in enough to realize what they were saying.
Genesis was flinging his arms out wide as he propped up a foot next to where the blond was sprawled on a loveseat, causing his crotch to be in the man's face. "We that are true lovers run into strange capers!"
The blond grabbed Genesis' ankle and flung him backwards. "'Tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."
Not to be deterred, Genesis used the momentum to pivot around dramatically. "Or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them!" He protested hotly.
The blond rolled his eyes. "So wise so young, they say do never live long."
"All the world's a stage! And all the men and women merely players!" Genesis huffed, clearly affronted. Though Zach had no idea why. They were quoting at each other. How could that possibly be offensive? Well, offensive to Genesis, anyway- he loved plays-stuff. It had clearly already gone beyond Angeal's tolerance if the headphones were anything to go by.
"I pray thee peace, I will be flesh and blood." The blond rubbed his eyes with a hand, looking tired. He then dropped his hand and shrugged.
Zack stared at the two of them. Were they having a conversation? How could they be having a conversation? It was so quick! But they were definitely quotes- it had a sing-song quality to it. He was distracted when the General walked in- the vibe coming off of Sephiroth could freeze steam. But the two didn't seem to notice.
"Come, madame wide, sit by my side, and let the world slip, we shall ne'er be younger." Genesis put a hand to his chest. Neither seemed to care that the blond was the one sitting whilst Genesis was still on his feet.
"Do they do this a lot?" Zack asked, wondering what he had missed being gone. It was so confusing...
"Lately." Sephiroth grit out.
Zack looked at his superior in surprise. He could actually see the muscles of his jaw clenching. Zack's eyes bugged out slightly. He obviously had missed a LOT if the General was being so blatant with emotions. Zack wondered worriedly if the man might be going insane...
"That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man if with his tongue he cannot win a woman." Cloud replied to Genesis haughtily.
"Hear my soul speak. Of the very instant that I saw you, did my heart fly at your service!" Genesis swooned right into Cloud's lap.
The blond turned bright red and spluttered. "I pray you, do not fall in love with me, for I am falser than vows made in wine!" The blond growled, trying to shove Genesis off of him. The red-head expertly maneuvered so that instead of being bucked off, they became even more entangled.
"I am starting to understand why everyone was fleeing the room." Zack said wonderingly.
Angeal snorted at this but did not pull out the headphones.
"You have witchcraft in your lips!" Genesis sighed, nuzzling the blond's neck.
Zack noted with some concern that the blond was not back to being white... and he looked rather furious. The Second would have been convinced that a fight was going to break out if the blond's lips weren't twitching in amusement as well as his eyebrows dancing in annoyance.
"He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf." The blond warned Genesis.
Genesis stopped nuzzling to give the blond puppy eyes. "Pleas'd not the million, 'twas caviar to the general!" He licked his lips and moved in closer to the blond's.
A wind swept Zack's hair forward and he blinked in confusion. That movement very nearly had him miss seeing the General suddenly appear.
Sephiroth snatched Genesis by the back of the neck. The redhead made a sound close to 'urk' as he was lifted bodily away from the blond, who burst out laughing.
"My friend, the fates are cruel!" Genesis choked out.
"Hah!" The blond crowed in between wheezing laughs. "Loveless!"
Genesis scrabbled behind him with his arms, trying to pry the silver-haired General off of him. He only managed to look like an idiot. But since the guy was starting to look pretty blue in the face, Zack felt like he needed to say something. "Um... Seph? Maybe you can put him down now?"
Sephiroth turned and glared at Zack, making him 'eep' and slouch down in the chair.
The General did look at Genesis and seemed to note his coloring as well. Or he just decided to throw the red-head across the room. Zack was never completely sure on the exact motivations for the enigmatic First.
Genesis stood with a groan, rubbing his head. Two packets of candy dropped from the abused vending machine he had slammed into and Zack licked his lips greedily. As long as the others didn't notice...
"Dammit, Seph! You made me lose the battle!" Genesis pouted. "I was convincing him, too!"
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. Perceptibly even! "Persuasion does not involve pinning Cloud down and licking him." He said flatly. That was the guy's name... Zack should have remembered that- it was so... weird.
"Shows what you know." Genesis waggled his eyebrows.
"It's alright." Cloud stood, wiping his eyes from the tears of laughter. "He's an idiot- don't mind him."
"An idiot!" Genesis scoffed. "Literary genius more like..."
Cloud tapped lightly on Sephiroth's forearm, eliciting an instinctive swat, which the blond used to duck under the moving arm and tuck himself against the General. Zack's eyebrows rose not so much at the move itself- he had seen a similar one at the end of their fight, after all, but more at how Sephiroth just... accepted it.
"Thank you for saving my virtue." Cloud simpered up at Sephiroth. "You're my hero."
Genesis made a gagging noise before bending back over and picking the candy out of the machine (damn!). Cloud laughed and twisted himself out of retaliatory range from Sephiroth, walking over to where Angeal and Zack were sitting. Sephiroth looked vaguely pleased by the whole ending, which Zack decided he was best off ignoring, just as his mentor seemed to have concluded already.
"Hey, Angeal, we're all done." Cloud said as he plucked the headphones off of the much taller man.
"About time." Angeal grumbled.
"Oh, it's just fun for the two of us." Cloud laughed.
"You are encouraging him." Angeal sighed.
"Oh, yes." Cloud's eyes were dancing with mischief. "I had no idea how fun it would be."
Angeal just grunted and stood.
"Well, Zack- good to see you back." Cloud extended a hand, which Zack took, though he wasn't sure if it was an offer of help in standing or a hand-shake. It ended up being the latter, so Zack just went along with the gesture. It was surprising how much strength was in that hand- even though the blond was holding back, it was rather like being scruffed by Sephiroth. Since the General never shook hands, he couldn't say if it was anything like the man's hand-shake or not.
"Good to be back." Zack replied honestly. As fun as it was to travel, finding- or worse, not finding, but instead getting those awful clues... Missing SOLDIERs could stay missing as far as Zack was concerned, unless ShinRa was about to start authorizing rescue missions from their own Departments. He hadn't even needed Kunsel's hints on some of the last few. He shuddered.
"Rough mission?" Cloud asked.
"Yeah." Zack rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, don't let them work you too hard. If you don't take vacations, you can really go mad." Cloud said, then laughed in a way that didn't make Zack feel all too good about the advice- it certainly hadn't worked for the blond. Or maybe Zack should really pay attention since the guy was speaking from experience? He eyed the obviously unhinged guy warily.
"So what did you want to see us all for, Sephy?" Cloud asked, putting his hands behind the back of his head and rocking back on his heels.
Sephiroth's eye twitched and Cloud grinned at him.
"We need to coordinate mentoring of the new Thirds." Sephiroth sighed. "There are too many of them at the moment so we have had to non-select some promising recruits in the regular army. I want the ones that have potential moved up quickly."
"We have been doing that already." Angeal raised an eyebrow.
"But not in a coordinated fashion." Sephiroth shook his head, then turned to look at Cloud. "In the mean time, there is going to be a massive expansion of the space program."
Both Cloud's eyebrows shot up. "Wow. That's random... 'sorry kids, you can't be SOLDIERs right now, here's a rocket?'"
"Yes." Sephiroth agreed. "And you are in charge of the new section. I expect that they will be doing physical work to aid them in their mental activities as you try to revitalize the attempts to breach atmosphere."
Cloud's face stretched slowly into a broad grin. "Oh, this is going to be fun!" He cackled. "I will get that rocket into space if our group has to throw it ourselves!"
Zach had a sneaking suspicion that the blond wasn't entirely joking.
"They will not be authorized for mako injections." Angeal warned, giving a quick glance to his commander, who verified that with a nod.
"Even better." Cloud smacked his fist into the opposite palm. "I'll make them all chefs for sure... super powered, rocket-launching chefs!"
Sephiroth just sighed and left the room.
"Chefs?" Genesis quirked an eyebrow at Cloud.
"Wutai." Cloud nodded sagely. Though this seemed like a treasonous phrase to Zack, both Angeal and Genesis got a dreamy look on their faces.
"It's gonna be good to live in Midgar." Genesis sighed happily. "'Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul...'"
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A/N: All quotes that Genesis and Cloud use that are not from Loveless are from Shakespeare. Below are the quotes again, what play they are from, and then the conversation I wrote in order to select quotes. However, when I was reading through and editing, I got a slightly different conversation than depicted here. But I have left it for people who were confused. Feel free to interpret it however you want to! It is the Great Bard after all and subject to some translation. (I had entirely too much fun doing this and it might be too much... but I'm leaving it anyway!) Without further ado:
G: We that are true lovers run into strange capers – As You Like It. (I think I may love you- this is the most fun I have ever had.)
C: 'Tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. - Hamlet (Don't get used to it.)
G: Or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them! - Hamlet (Why not!)
C: So wise so young, they say do never live long. - Richard III (Though it's fun, there are only so many quotes.)
G: All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players – As You Like It (Nonsense! Everything that can be said has been said in a play.)
C:I pray thee peace, I will be flesh and blood – Much Ado About Nothing (That's making an assumption I have seen them all.)
G: Come, madame wife, sit by my side, and let the world slip, we shall ne'er be younger.- Taming of the Shrew (We could go see them all together.)
C: That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. - Two Gentlemen of Verona. (I already told you I'm not gay.)
G: Hear my soul speak. Of the very instant that I saw you, Did my heart fly at your service! - The Tempest (Some things transcend gender.)
C: I pray you, do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine! - As You Like It (Get off of me you idiot!)
G: You have witchcraft in your lips. - Henry V (See! Even when I am glomping you, still in quotes!)
C: He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf.- King Lear (I will hurt you.)
G: Pleas'd not the million, 'twas caviare to the general!- Hamlet (This is an under-appreciated skill- we are too awesome together!)