A/N: Hiya huns! Just a quick note, I've split this chapter into two, it seems to work better.

Tseng watched silently as the girl walked past him and took a seat opposite the headmaster's seat. It was another minute or two before Cid closed the door of his office and joined them, having been speaking to the group of youths who had been standing with the girl. He could only assume they had wished to stay with their friend.

She didn't seem all that much out of place or uncomfortable with being in the same room as himself and the others. Several other Turks had arrived with him, all standing by silently. He knew this was bothering Cissnei, she was a good Turk - no doubts there - but anything involving kids or youngsters seemed to bother her somewhat. Rod was alright, he wouldn't put his foot in it - hopefully - the young man had finally started taking his job seriously since things had taken a bad turn in regards to the Remnants.

Tseng inclined his head as an idea entered his head. If the girl was who he thought she was, then she should be able to answer him. Alex had been half Wutain and had been bi-lingual. Christine had only been three when the crash had happened, but to the best of his knowledge, the young girl had also picked up the language, something that had stumped Genesis on several occasions, much to the Alex's enjoyment.

"Tell me what you remember."

Christi looked up from where she had been idly tugging at the sleeve of her hoody. She squinted as he looked at the Turk, taking a moment to process the string of words he had spoken. They were familiar, she didn't know how, but she knew what the Turk was saying. She took a breath as she began speaking slowly, relating her recollection back to the Turk in the same language he had spoken, picking her words carefully as she tried to work her way around some verbs she couldn't remember.

"Everything shook...Mom got up and put me in her seat, then tied the seat belt...she was crying but tried to hide it...lights flickered. I wanted Dad or Angeal...then it was cold and quiet, Mom wouldn't wake up."

Some of the verb conjugations were off, but it was evident to see the girl had been fluent at one stage, years of no use had rusted her ability to speak the language, but she was still undoubtedly more adept with the language than many people studying it were. Coupled with her evident resemblance to the SOLDIER, capability of speaking Wutai and recollection of the crash, Tseng was beyond doubt of who the girl was. Rufus, Lazard, Angeal and the rest were due to arrive early in the morning, which gave a somewhat silver lining to Christine's revelation. He may not know where her father was, but at least she would be able to see her godfather, it wasn't the same, but Genesis was somewhat of a lost cause at this stage.

"We, meaning the company employees, were told through an internal inquiry that there were no survivors of the crash. Your father was told that your mother died while your body had been destroyed by the impact. He never returned to the company after your mother was buried, he had been MIA since. ShinRa have attempted to locate him, but to no avail. Angeal is arriving here tomorrow."

Cid shook his head, somewhat disbelievingly. He found it hard to understand why someone would willingly lie to both sides of the fence for no evident reason. Christi looked confused, she wasn't usually this quiet. She wasn't usually quiet full stop, the opposite in fact. She had been a handful as a child and twice as bad as a teenager, to the chagrin of several instructors at the Garden. But she was the one person who they knew would not be expelled. Cid was her guardian. He did his best not to favour her or take preference, but he also knew he had an undeniable soft spot for her.

"I spoke to the President. He informed me that her father not longer wished to have any ties with her."

And there it was, the animosity and tinge of personal bias. Cid had not voiced his thoughts, but it didn't take a genius to read them. He held some blame towards Genesis. Though he had never been on friendly terms with the SOLDIER, Tseng did not agree with it. He had been in the President's office when the news had been broken to the SOLDIER. Tseng found himself surprised it had taken this long for it to surface. He didn't blame the headmaster or anyone in for holding their grudges against ShinRa. However, what he did have a small problem with was how they held their grudges against the people who were not to blame. Rufus was now the President; by being so he was doing all he could to correct the wrongs his father had left. That was not an easy job for anyone. He and the other Turks were doing the same, but behind the scenes. The old President ShinRa had done horrible deeds, some of which were only coming to light lately, but that was no one else's fault but the man's.

"You hold your opinion, which is your right. I hold my own, but do no assume things you do not know. Not unless you have seen both sides of the story."

"You two can argue out your differences, I'm leaving."

Christi looked at both men pointedly as she stood from her chair, knocking it backwards as she turned to walk away. Why did people always have to end up arguing over something or other? Was it too much to ask for just a little bit of civility? She didn't want to sound selfish, but could they not maybe consider how she felt? She had lived here for fifteen years, all because some man had seen fit to lie to both Cid and her father. She had grown up thinking he had simply not wanted her anymore, had no longer wished to look after her. That had confused her to endless lengths, she didn't remember much from before the crash, but she knew her parents had loved her. She furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to recall his face, she knew she would know him if she saw him, but it still evaded her. All that remained of him in her memories was his voice and his laughter.

"Christi, wait."

She shrugged her shoulders as she turned, meeting the gaze of the man who had raised her. Wait for what? More answers, something told her that was out of the question. A quick thought crossed her mind as she randomly asked herself what Angeal looked like now.

"For what, Cid? More lies. It doesn't even matter at this stage, I wanted to know why and I've found out. I may not like it, but I got what was coming. My Dad is out there somewhere, he thinks I'm dead. He probably has a new family now, probably moved on. I doubt I'm a second thought in his head..."

That's where she was wrong. Tseng shook his head slowly as the teenager looked to him. He understood her point of view, he understood why she was angry, but she didn't understand the effect of Alex's and her supposed death had had on Genesis. Few did. Angeal knew, so did anyone who had been close to the SODLIER and Alex, which had had been few and far between also. Genesis had never been one to openly allow his emotions to rule his judgement on matters. He had never been on to allow his personal bias to cloud his view. He had never been on to allow his personal life to have anything to do with ShinRa, but that had changed and had become inevitable when both of them had been under the company's employment. Tseng had watched as the President had coldly informed the SOLDIER of the Balamb Incident. He had watched as Genesis had refused to lose face before the man, how he had waited until stepping out on to the SOLDIER floor before allowing the truth - or what he had been led to believe was the truth - to sink in. Anyone else would have been instantly sanctioned for the damage that had been caused to the simulation room and he would have been had it not been for Sephiroth and Angeal pulling ranks with the force and covering up.

"That is one thing I can promise you, you will never be and have never been a second thought in his head. You were always the first. I am sorry; it does not count for much, but just know that. ShinRa are still attempting to find him, even more so now because of Sephiroth and the Remnants, if we do, then you will be the first to know."

"Where did you go?"

Angeal glanced up as he walked through the doors of the training hall, instantly recognising Zack's ever questioning tone. Did he tell the rest who he had been speaking to and give them a chance at reclaiming the MIA SOLDIER, or did he over look his honour as a SOLDIER to preserve his one as a friend? He doubted very much Genesis would appreciate ShinRa knowing he had been so close. But he had also meant what he had said, it involved everyone, not just a select few. Though he hadn't exactly been fair either, showing up randomly, asking for his help and throwing Balamb straight into the conversation without really thinking it through properly. Now that he looked back, he realised it had been somewhat cruel. They had been standing in front of Alex's grave and all…

"Guilt's gotten to you too?"

He shouldn't smirk, he knew that, but at least he knew he wasn't the only prone to guilt. Genesis cocked his head to the right in a questioning manner as Angeal looked back over his shoulder, an apologetic look upon his face. He had been right, regardless of timing and location. Out of the three of them - Angeal, himself and Sephiroth - Angeal had always been the one with a more prevalent conscience.

"Yeah, I stepped a line, I apologise. You're coming?"

"Apparently."

Genesis glanced around quickly, people really didn't realise how rude it was to stare. The children could be excused, they were kids and didn't know any better…Zack was excused on the same basis. But the rest were just being ignorant. Okay, they hadn't exactly expected his arrival, which made another point - if they were all so worried about Sephiroth and the three twerps - then they were sure as hell doing a bad job at protecting themselves. Sure, they were at the ShinRa headquarters, but that was no protection or strong base if they all just sat around and hoped to Minerva Sephiroth wouldn't have the balls to attack the place directly.

"That's brilliant. Bring your families here, bring your kids here, but whatever you do, don't consider the possibility of this place being a target. And don't look at me like that, I don't need your pity."

Tifa clamped her mouth shut involuntarily as the SOLDIER passed her, somewhat taken aback by his directness. She hadn't been pitying him, she had simply been thinking about what Angeal had said, about the man's reasons for leaving, his wife and daughter and, oh god she had been pitying him. He didn't strike her as the type of man who wanted to be pitied or even looked at let alone spoken to regarding the past. But surely he knew that ignoring what had happened would only make things worse on himself, that admitting and speaking about them would help…why was she even assuming what he thought? She didn't know him, she wouldn't appreciate it if the SOLDIER returned the favour.

Rufus stood as the red-coated SOLDIER stopped several feet from him. Taking care not to waken his sleeping son as he did so, Genesis' look said it all, but he didn't care. Yeah, he had a kid, so what? He had a son, he had a company to run and several operations under that company, all of which were starting to wear thin on him at this stage, but it didn't matter. Sephiroth had to be stopped and the Remnants had to burn in hell, he didn't care if his opinion was biased or not. They had taken away the woman he'd cared about, taken away Charlie's mother.

"I know why you left, had always guessed that had been the reason."

"Heard your father was killed?"

"Mmm, pity it hadn't been sooner."

A/N: Thanks for reading!