It had been a few weeks since the fangirl incident with Genesis and he still had not forgiven his pranksters. Whenever Sephiroth, Angeal, Zack, or Evalia attempted to talk to him, he spoke in Loveless quotes if he even responded to them at all. Most of the group found it annoying, though Evalia thought it was cute like a stubborn child that did not have his way. After they found it too annoying to stand, they began to think of ways to amend their relationship with Genesis.
"Why did we come out here again?" Sephiroth asked from his perch on a tree branch a little ways outside Midgar.
"Three reasons." Zack answered as he glanced at the general sitting by Evalia. "One: Angeal wants to examine the plants around this area. Two: We sent Genesis with him to see if Angeal can talk some sense into him. Three: I needed to train the cadets about how to forage anyway." He worriedly looked at the various paths the cadets had taken through the brush after he informed them of their mission when he said the last sentence.
"Relax." Sephiroth said. "They will be fine. I had no problem with foraging and I was younger than they are."
"Just because you did it fine doesn't mean they will! You're stronger than anyone I know." Zack responded, worried most about a cadet in particular. The little blonde cadet known as Cloud was weaker than others in his age group, thus making him a prime target for any monsters that may decide to attack the group he went off into the brush with.
"You're worried about that little chocobohead, aren't you?" Evalia finally spoke up.
He widened his eyes. "H-how did you know?"
She crossed her arms as she pouted. "I would have thought that you knew I was different from most people. It is hard to hide things from me."
"Well, yeah." Zack replied as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "But how did you find out?"
"Your eyes stay on him slightly longer than the other cadets when you look over them. Also, you spend more time with him than the rest. Even a normal person could probably figure it out."
"I am worried about him more than the others." He admitted. "He's weaker than the rest. Also, don't you remember what the guy at the chocobo ranch told us when we passed by?"
"Yes." Sephiroth interjected. "He said there was a powerful monster living near here, the Midgar Zolom I believe he called it. He said the Zolom would not eat chocobos, but Shinra being the cheapskates they are, did not give us gil for this mission since they were confident in our abilities, so we could not rent any chocobos."
Zack rolled his eyes. "Of course. Remind me to have Reno prank whoever manages the finances once we get back."
Suddenly, Sephiroth snapped his head up as he sniffed the air. His cat-like pupils dilated like a monster that saw its prey before he leaped from the tree and landed with inhuman grace on all fours.
Zack noticed the change in his friend and raced over to him. "C'mon Seph, snap out of it." He told him as he lightly shook his shoulders. He was immediately shaken off by the snarling general before he bounded off through the brush on all fours. "Geez." He said as he sat up from where Sephiroth had knocked him onto the ground. "Do you have any idea what's up with him?" He asked Evalia as he turned his head to where she still sat on the tree.
"I have an idea of why he did that." She told him before she hopped off the tree, landing on her feet.
Before he could ask what it was, he heard rustling in the direction Sephiroth took. He turned his head towards the noise and saw Angeal and Genesis pushing their way through the vegetation.
"Please tell me that silver and black blur that nearly ran us over wasn't who we think it was." Genesis said while taking leaves out of his hair.
"I'm afraid so." Zack replied while standing up. "We should probably go after him." He followed after Angeal and Genesis who were going back the way they came as Evalia trailed after him.
The eventually found him at the edge of a large marsh drenched in blood near a large carcass. Most of the ground and scenery around him was splattered with blood. Zack widened his eyes when he realized what the corpse used to belong to, the dreaded Midgar Zolom. Looking at the bruises, scrapes, and the flesh ripped from the body, it seemed as though Sephiroth did not even use his sword against the beast. "Leave it to Sephiroth to use nothing to kill a giant snake but the mountains around him." He muttered.
"Hey, Puppy," Angeal whispered softly to grab his attention while slowly edging around the general, "isn't that one of your cadets?" He asked as he pointed to Sephiroth's lap.
Zack followed him carefully and tensed as he saw Cloud being clutched tightly to the silver-haired man while he was focused on hungrily lapping up blood from a wound on the blonde's arm.
"Zack, help me." Cloud mouthed to his friend.
He waved his hand in front of Sephiroth and tilted his head as the general did not even react. He then tried to pull Cloud away from him, but was met by a snarl and him pulling the cadet closer to him. Zack retreated back to Angeal. "What should we do about him? If we don't get Cloud away from him soon, he'll die from blood loss."
At that moment, Evalia finally caught up to the SOLDIERs and walked over to Sephiroth. She pried him away from the blonde, the silver-haired man allowing her to, and whispered into his ear.
Zack took his chance to get Cloud after he was free and gave the younger man a potion. "Are you alright?"
The blonde gently rubbed his arm where the scratch was. "Y-yeah. I'm a little tired, but I'll be fine."
The black-haired man looked around after he tended to his friend. "Where's the rest of your squad at?"
Cloud lowered his head. "Well, we weren't sure where we were going, so we thought we would find a town by going through the marsh. Once the Zolom found us, the rest of my squad abandoned me to die."
Zack ruffled his hair playfully. "I'll tell Shinra when we get back and maybe Hojo will have some new test subjects." He helped him up and noticed Sephiroth seemed to have returned to normal. "Well, now that everything has seemed to have returned to normal, we should go back to camp and see if any of the other squads made it back yet." He led Cloud back to the camp with Genesis and Angeal following.
Evalia watched the soldiers go back into the brush. "Remember, do not kill anyone you are not ordered to kill until it is time."
"But how much longer will I have to wait?" Sephiroth inquired.
"The time will come very soon." She said while stroking his cheek. "Now, let us follow them before they get suspicious."
