A/N: I would have had this up a few nights ago, only my internet was being a pain, cutting out every ten minutes and then dying altogether until this morning. It just really doesn't like me lately, then I had exams to study for, but something good came out of them - the latter half of this chapter ended up as a four and half page short story in my exam :P

"You're being quiet."

Christi cursed under her breath as she jumped, having been startled by her boyfriend's statement. He had a habit of appearing out of nowhere, especially when she wasn't paying attention or was lost in her own thoughts. It was still early; she was allowed to be a bit slow. She hadn't really been with it since yesterday, bad way to end a birthday. She hadn't even told Selphie what had happened and she told the Trabia-native everything. She hadn't really spoken to anyone last night, only telling Seifer out of stubborn frustration as he had hammered on her dorm door.

"It's early."

Now it was her turn to be stubborn. Seifer nodded as he leaned sideways, resting against the doorframe of her bedroom. Okay, she had a right to be ticked off, or upset, or whichever she was. However, being cold to everyone else going to make it better. Though he had to admit; if he had found out after fifteen years that one of his parents was still around unaware of his existence, he would undoubtedly be angry, possibly hurt, though the latter of which he would never admit to.

But Christi was an odd one, she tried to keep her emotions and thoughts personal to an extreme extent, the only people she tended to be open with were himself and Selphie. If he couldn't get her to talk then he asked Selphie to try. Her and bottling up things did not go hand in hand, they had all figured that out a few years ago. Kids were cruel, he had been one of them, a lot said he hadn't changed over the years but personally speaking he knew in himself he had. His derogatory comment of Bright eyes had been the least of the abuse Christi had received as a child. The majority of the other kids - mostly boys - had personally taken upon themselves to make sure she knew just how different she was. And why? Because her eyes were different?

He had found it more intriguing than anything else; teasing her had been his way of approaching it. There had never been much malice in his teasing though - not towards her anyhow - but he had always known when he'd crossed a line and had stopped. The others hadn't though. The other kids had never given it a rest, not until Christi had given them a reason to.

"You expect me to believe that?"

Christi groaned as she tried to grab her phone, accidentally knocking it from her bedside locker and sending it skidding across the carpeted floor. Why couldn't everything just stop? Just stop and back up for a minute, she wanted to be left alone for a while, everyone else confused her when they tried to understand or help. Now she couldn't find her phone - great - that's all she needed. The eighteen-year-old cursed under her breath as she sent one of her worn sneakers out past Seifer and into the shared living space by means of a vicious kick.

Seifer rolled his eyes as he stepped aside, allowing his irked girlfriend to pass - smirking as he caught wind of several choice curses - he watched with some bemusement as Christi continued to tear the living area apart in search of her elusive phone, which was currently lying alongside his foot.

Every other cadet at Balamb was bunked with another cadet, all apart from Christi. She had been at one stage, a few times in fact. Too many fights had been reported between her and whoever had been in the other bedroom. Though many of the instructors argued with it, Cid had decided it was easier to leave the other bedroom vacant as opposed to dealing with complaints and sanctions. The gunblade specialist watched for another minute or so before bending down and picking up the scratched a silver flip-phone.

"Christi?"

"…"

"Christi?"

"…"

"Christi?"

Christi snapped her head around as the last of her patience evaporated. Did she have to spell it out? She wanted to be left alone. She wanted everyone to ignore her for a while, to just leave her alone with her own thoughts. Angeal would be here - judging by a quick glance to the clock on the wall - any minute. Would he still remember her? Would he still care about who she was? She knew what he looked like, she had seen his profile when she had been in the ShinRa databanks a few weeks ago, granted she should not have been in them and almost hadn't been able to get into them, ShinRa did not slack on their system defences but she had eventually found a way around the multiple firewalls. She had only done so to prove a point to herself, she hadn't planned on getting into any of the sensitive files, Angeal's name had just been there; temptation and curiosity had gotten the better of her. Her Dad's had been there too, but it had been impossible to get into. She had tried all the same, only to met by a loop file containing a worm virus - Selphie had given her a hand to isolate the virus and lock it - preventing it from spreading to the Garden's mainframe system.

"What?! Can't everyone just leave me alone?!"

"Actually, I was just gonna give you your phone back, but now you're not getting it."

Great, now he was going to be a jerk about it. She really didn't have the head to deal with that right now. She had barely slept. Moreover, when she had eventually drifted off, she'd rolled over and fallen out of her bed. But now she was feeling guilty, he'd just been standing there and watching silently, he hadn't deserved that.

"Look, sorry…I'm just tired and nervous."

Seifer smirked as he tossed the phone to her. He knew that, he'd just wanted her to admit that to herself too. Now he could get to the real point of why he'd dropped by so early. He'd been to talk to Cid - actually Cid had asked to speak to him - the topic of their conversation had been about who's names had been given to the Turks and were to be considered for ShinRa. As well as the ins and outs of this recruitment thing. It was not to be a permanent fixture, if Balamb Garden required the SeeD cadets to return, then there would be no alternative; they would immediately return to the Garden. The cadets were primarily under Balamb Garden's control; ShinRa would be their secondary superiors.

"Forget it. Just quit stressing out Christi, it's not going to help. We're due at the assembly hall soon, Cid's told me more about this deal, I'll tell you on the way."

Christi nodded as she grabbed the two chains from her bedside locker, slipping them on over her head as she clipped part of her hair back. She had had longer hair up until a few weeks ago, but she had been fed up with always tying it back and straightening it, so she'd allowed Selphie to cut it. A brave decision for anyone to make, but it had been fun to see what style Selphie could come up with. Pretty much all of her lovely long locks were gone now, replaced by short reddish-chestnut hair, cut short enough to style spikey at the back with a long front, which swept over one of glowing slate-grey eyes.

"Where're Raijin and Fujin?"

"ShinRa have arrived, they've gone ahead to meet them and show them where the assembly hall is."

He had lost count of how many hours had slowly dragged by since the airship had departed from Edge; the Shera was an impressive airship by any standards. As was the amount of staff that it hid within its' bowels. All adorned with the same red cap and pale uniform he had come to recognise as The World Regenesis Organisation. He had tried to keep track of the time, but there had been too many distractions, such as crying infants, idiotic employees, blue streaks from the pilot, random bursts of music from an ipod turned up to it's volume's limits, along with a rather inquisitive young girl.

Genesis ignored several odd looks as he passed some more of the WRO troops; following the rest of the gang as they began idly chatting amongst themselves while walking towards entrance-like gates. The place seemed large enough; they had already passed several training fields while arriving, even landing in one. Though that had been odd, he wasn't sure if that was the right way to put it, but words pretty much failed at this stage. Despite himself, he couldn't help but silently wonder which battlefield the last ShinRa recruitment mission had met its end in.

Angeal glanced sideways as they passed the booth alongside the electronic entrance gates - passively taking note of the man behind the glass remarking about how long he had resided at the Garden - silently watching his old friend walking several feet behind him and the rest of the gang. He hadn't said all that much since they had spoken at the graveyard before leaving, mostly keeping silently to himself while onboard the Shera and answering a few of Marlene's questions. That had made him smile though, Genesis had answered the ten-year-old's questions carefully and honestly, not minding her inquisitive nature in the slightest, Christi had been the same; always wanting to know how stuff worked.

"You're being quiet."

"It's early."

Early mornings never bothered him, but that had been a stupid statement, regardless of his past with Angeal or not, it was stupid and pointing at the obvious. Of course, he was being silent; it didn't take a genius to figure out why. Or to realize the subject was better left unmentioned. He wasn't speaking about it, so they should take that as a hint not to mention it. The SOLDIER just shook his head as he chose to look ahead instead of answering Angeal's statement of the obvious. Two youths immediately caught his attention; he could only assume by their similar attire that they were students of the Garden.

He watched as they spoke with Rufus before continuing towards that school's front gates. Curiosity took hold of the SOLDIER as he glimpsed an eye patch covering the girl's left eye, she looked no older than eighteen or nineteen, what could she have been involved in which had led to an injury such as that? He idly wondered if it were a good or bad sign that she sported it, it meant she had seen a battle no doubt, but also that she had been seriously injured. The other student was taller, with darker skin and a broad frame. If these two were two of the cadets up for recruitment, then maybe it had been worth their while coming here.

Genesis glanced around once more as they finally entered the impressive school; the first thing that struck him was how the lobby resembled a rather large fountain. Several other students stood at a terminal a few feet ahead of them, they looked younger than the two who were accompanying them. Was there an age restriction on people wishing to train at the Mercenary school? If so, then what was the minimal and maximum ages allowed?

More walking, an elevator, students of differing ages all silently watching as the group of strangers passed them and their classrooms. Genesis had to hand it to whoever had designed the building; it was well laid out, large and apparently contained its own training centre with actual monsters, not simply simulations as had been with SOLDIER. The students appeared well behaved, though that was probably due to them having received warnings and lectures about acting maturely in front of visitors to the Garden.

Angeal looked back again, watching the other SOLDIER carefully despite himself. He had changed. Granted, Genesis had never been one for conversations or meaningless chatter, but he had never been silent either. He'd always had a underlying air of smugness, though he'd had that as far back as when they'd been kids in Banora, he'd come from a well off family, he'd been raised to be that way. Along with small smart comments, ones that you could over look but bugged you latter. Like a time bomb, they wouldn't bother you when he'd said them, but come a few hours and the comment would be constantly replaying itself in your head, causing you to become angered at yourself for not copping it earlier. However, that was all gone now, replaced by a silent observer. Angeal tore his gaze away as shouting tore through the relative silence of the hall; he looked ahead and saw an older man dressed in a tan-hued suit along with a recruit.

"You are well aware of the rules at this stage; magic is prohibited within the Garden unless you are in the training centre!"

Christi bit her tongue, trying her utmost not to get into more trouble. She hadn't used magic, that had been some of the younger cadets messing about, Seifer had yelled at them and given them detentions, she had just been standing alongside where they'd been messing with some fire magic and now she was getting the blame from Instructor Aki for no reason other than the man hated her. Seifer had already tried to intervene, but Aki would not listen.

More shouting in her face, the man could certainly do with a breath mint or something, if he had bothered to look he would have realized it hadn't been her. The spell cast was a basic Fire spell, the first level; her usual level was Firaga, level three. Great, now there were people watching, judging by their black suits they were Turks, she also recognized Rufus ShinRa amidst the numerous bodies.

"It wasn't me. It was two of the younger cadets, and the spell was basic Fire spell, level one. I don't use level one, I use Firaga, sir."

More shouting, that hadn't exactly worked in her favour. Despite how calm she had made herself sound, it was an honest answer and it had been spoken lowly so as she did not make a scene in front of the Garden's visitors. She knew if she did, it would only bite her in the ass and not Aki. But the man did not seem to have a problem with making a scene. He was much more concerned with acting the big man in front of ShinRa personnel instead, regardless of whether or not he was correct in doing so.

"I didn't do anything, you're just too far up your own ass to see that, they don't care how much you shout at me, you're trying so hard to impress and no one really gives a damn."

Seifer groaned as he hid his face in his hand, way to go Christi. In addition, in front of ShinRa and all, now it was going to turn around on him. He was standing there, he'd heard her words and he was head of the Disciplinary Committee. Aki was glaring at him, okay; truthfully speaking the Instructor was in need of a major ego check, but it wasn't his place nor Christi's to say so. Now Christi was glaring at him, what was he supposed to do? Side with her and get punished himself too or side with him and get the silent treatment from her for the rest of the day?

"Problem?"

Christi looked away from Seifer as a new voice entered the argument. A young man smiled and nodded as he met her gaze, she suddenly felt sick as she caught sight of his mako eyes; he was a SOLDIER too. A first class judging by his uniform. If he was a SOLDIER, then he knew what caused the mako glow in his eyes and would probably recognize hers. She didn't want that, she didn't want to see Angeal anymore. He had his life now, and she was here. He thought she was dead too, she didn't want to just pop back up into existence, and what if he didn't remember her? What if he did and still didn't want anything to do with her?

"I would appreciate it if you would not interfere with a Garden matter."

Zack shrugged as the older man directed his words towards him, an air of arrogance about them. Fair enough, but was it really that bad that he had to shout in the girl's face, in the middle of a corridor, while they were all watching? Personally, he reckoned the girl had been right with her words. The Instructor did have his head up his own butt to a painful degree.

"Kay, just back off the kid. She didn't do anything wrong -"

The SOLDIER's words were cut short as someone cut across him, evidently trying to placate the situation without starting another argument. Angeal had been the first to notice the shouting Instructor and the girl. And also, the first to notice Zack deciding to get involved, not a smart decision when they were guests and given the happenings of ShinRa's last recruitment mission. They weren't supposed to be crossing any lines, they were guests. Having said that, he felt the Instructor was being unfair towards the girl, she had answered and though he did not claim to be a master at judging characters, she had been truthful.

The 1st Class watched the girl for a moment or two, taking note of her features and her eyes, it could have been a trick of the light, but he could have sworn he had seen the familiar glow of mako in them, but what intrigued him more was the slight angle of her eyes, it probably went unnoticed by others, but there was an angle to the outside of her eyes, not enough to be certain, but he was almost willing to ask if one of her parents or possibly grandparents had been of Wutain descent.

"We don't know your students, we don't mean to intrude. However, I think what my colleague was trying to say was; you have no proof, other than your own opinion, that this girl has broken any rules. Of which seems to be biased in my view. You did not see her using magic, therefore there is no ground to assume such and no ground to issue a sanction."

Christi watched as Aki bit down hard on his tongue and nodded, walking away despite the fact he most certainly did not agree. Maybe Cid had given the staff lectures about how to act while ShinRa were here too? His voice was the same as she had remembered it, she couldn't remember his face apart from the profile picture, she couldn't remember most faces from before the crash, only peoples' voices and how they had been to be around. But there he was, looking at her with questions hidden in his eyes. She'd only been three the last time they had been face to face, that was fifteen years ago, she probably looked nothing like she had back then. She didn't want to be in this situation, she didn't like it.

"Thank you, c'mon, there's Raijin and Fujin."

Seifer frowned as Christi thanked the man and almost dragged him into the assembly hall behind her. She was seriously confusing him today. The eighteen year old looked back over his shoulder as he hit off one of the people who had been with the ShinRa President, shouting an apology as Christi yanked him on towards the bleachers and other seated cadets.

"Eh, sorry!"

Genesis blinked as a pair of students shot past him, the girl of the duo literally dragging the taller male behind her. Maybe he had been wrong about how well behaved and mature the Garden's SeeD cadets were. The bleachers were half-full, apparently the Headmaster of the Garden had only recommended those he saw fit for the recruitment, Angeal had filled him in on the workings of the recruitment, how the final decision would be left to the students themselves as opposed to ShinRa or their Headmaster. That seemed fair in his opinion, the recruits were still youngsters, they deserved a say in what path their lives took.

Rufus had separated from the group after Angeal and Zack had stuck their noses where they hadn't been welcome. A great move to make straight after arriving. Tseng had wished to speak to the CEO privately while shooting him a rather odd look. He'd been getting odd looks since yesterday though, so that was no surprise. They would go ahead with the list of names, see how many cadets were willing to transfer their abilities and leave tomorrow. Genesis sighed as he looked out one of the large windows, he was considering speaking to the Garden's Headmaster but wasn't too sure yet, he wanted to know which battlefield Alex and Christi had died in.

"What was going on in the corridor?"

Angeal looked up from the clipboard in his hands, having been idly leafing through a list of Cadet names along with their Headmaster's and Instructors' personal assessments of them. Taking a second or two to cop onto what the other SOLDIER was actually on about; the instructor and the two youths.

"An Instructor was lecturing a female cadet, she and the guy with her had seen younger cadets using magic - which is apparently prohibited inside the Garden - the girl was getting the blame, she insisted the spell wasn't her level and the Instructor was pushing his weight around."

"Zell don't! Give them back, cop on!"

Both Genesis and Angeal looked up as a girl's angered shout echoed around the hall, accompanied by the sound of something hitting and skidding lightly across the floor before them, immediately followed by more angered shouts and possible death threats. Genesis shook his head as he stepped forward to pick up what looked like the girl's necklaces from the floor, these were just kids and now they were messing around, what help could they be against Sephiroth and the Remnants? The SOLDIER glanced back over his shoulder as he gripped the chains.

"Is there a Zell on our list?"

A few moments of relative silence and turning pages before Angeal nodded. That was brilliant, one of the SeeD cadets deemed capable enough in combat to transfer to ShinRa for a while was mature enough to steal a girl's necklaces and toss them down onto the floor away from her…this was going to be a really long day. Genesis simply shook his head as he looked back around to the two chains now in his hand, one of the chains was longer and tarnished, the other shorter and shiny. He allowed his eyes to scan further down the chains to the charms that weighed them down only to feel his stomach drop sickeningly…he knew the small heart-shaped locket, he had bought it.

The dog tags only served to prove it further. They were Alex's. What the hell was one of the students in the Garden doing going around wearing them, where did they think they had the right to? Hadn't she seen that they had obviously belonged to someone? Okay, fair enough, if she had found them in the battlefield, but she should have given them to the Garden's headmaster, there was a name on them and a date of birth, and they belonged to someone. Not her. They were Alex's; she had no right to walk around wearing them!

"Genesis, are you alr-"

"Who was wearing these?"

"See you - you're nothing but a jerk - I hope you know that chicken-wuss!"

Zell took a breath to defend himself but quickly backed down as both Seifer and Squall shot him cold glares. He had only been teasing, he had not meant for Christi to take it so seriously, but they'd all been sitting there with serious looks on their faces and silent, he didn't like when things were like that, he preferred for something to be happening. They were all in serious need of a laugh, especially Squall; he had a frown permanently fixed onto his face lately. Then again, it wasn't just lately, it was pretty much permanent full stop.

Christi continued to curse foully under her breath as she descended the bleachers, almost going down the last few on her butt due to some idiot spilling a drink - which was another stupid rule; no food or drinks inside halls or classrooms - knowing her luck Aki would pop up and put the blame on her again. Moreover, why hadn't Seifer defended her - he had been there - he was a chicken-wuss too! Stupid Zell, how immature did he have to be?

She didn't want to go down here, she didn't want Angeal to stare at her like he had already - mind you, Zell wasn't to know that - but that didn't matter, the blond still shouldn't have thrown her chains away from her, he knew what they meant to her. Christi groaned mentally as she reached the bottom of the bleachers; the guy Seifer had almost knocked over had her chains. And everyone was suddenly watching, wondering why she had left her seat in the first place, they could ask Zell why and if she was going to get into trouble for doing so, then Zell could take the rap for that too.

Seifer frowned as he noticed how long Christi was taking to retrieve her chains, a quick glance around and he spotted her standing across from someone, one of the SOLDIERs, the guy he had almost knocked over. It had been an accident, he'd yelled back sorry - of which was a rather big thing for him to do - so why was he speaking to Christi? Another second or two and protectiveness had gotten the better of him; Seifer stood as began descending the bleachers, but not before accidentally stepping on Zell's foot - idiot - if Christi was in trouble it was his fault.

Angeal was standing a few feet behind the man, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her chains…he knew they had been her Mom's. Now she felt nervous again, sick even. She didn't want this anymore, Angeal had been told she'd died fifteen years ago, he had probably moved on now, what right did she have to walk back into his life, even if she wanted to? It didn't matter what she wanted, she had wanted answers and had gotten them, though they hadn't exactly helped matters.

She didn't like this, she felt too closed in with everyone watching her and now Tseng had walked in with the Turks that had been with him, along with Rufus ShinRa. She didn't like being closed in, she couldn't stand it. Be it lots of people watching her or simply in a small room or a room with the door closed, she didn't do those situations.

"Where did you find these?"

His voice sounded familiar to her. However, no face came to mind. If he was, a SOLDIER - which was evident by his uniform - then maybe she had met him before the crash; maybe he had known her parents? Either way, if she had met him, his face was gone from her memories. As was most faces. The last thing she remembered before everything at the Garden was the plane crash - kinda, but not in great detail - along with some people's voices and names, but that was all.

"Th-They're mine."

Genesis watched the girl closely, she seemed familiar for some reason, and a small nagging in the back of his mind, but that was beside the point. They were not hers. Far from it, so why did she lie? Why would she? Why did she look familiar, that was bugging him now. However, this was the first time he had been to Balamb Garden; he would not have seen her before. The majority of the Garden's cadets were orphans of transfers, there was no possible way he could have seen or met her before.

Angeal stepped forward as he noticed the Headmaster enter the hall. The could really do without crossing a line with him. Zack had already led them onto thin ice by interfering between cadets and Instructors, something that did not particularly surprise the SOLDIER. But anyone who walked in now saw a shaken SeeD recruit and a SOLDIER standing before her, refusing to let a question go…the girl ad probably found them in one of the battlefields and taken a fancy to the two chains. She wasn't to know who they had belonged to, and while he understood Genesis' evident shock and displeasure, he had to leave it go for now.

"Genesis, she didn't know…"

Christi felt her stomach lurch as she picked up on one of Angeal's words - Genesis - but that wasn't possible. Tseng had said so last night. Tseng had explained it…the teenager shook her head as she took several unsure steps backwards, placing her hand over her mouth as bile burned the back of her throat. This wasn't supposed to happen, things weren't supposed to turn out this way. He didn't recognise her, how could he? Fifteen years had passed since she had been that little three year old. But he had thought her dead; she wasn't even a possibility in his head right now. This was just all wrong…

Genesis turned his back to the girl, looking to Angeal for possible inspiration - the kid was freaking out - and he certainly didn't know why. He hadn't even said anything, Angeal had. Technically that meant it was his fault now too.

Angeal sighed; shooting the other male a dangerous look, a bit of concern went a long way. The girl was obviously upset about something and yet he just turned his back on her after starting all this - there was a difference between being lost and being ignorant. Why was everyone so hell bent on getting ShinRa on the Garden's bad side again? It had taken well over a decade to repair the bridge that had been burnt the last time the two had crossed paths, and yet here were Zack and Genesis only too willing to burn it down again. He shook his head as he walked past the red-coated SOLDIER, purposely holding his gazed until he had passed, then turned to face the SeeD cadet, addressing both her and his friend.

"Let me know when you come down from that high horse, Genesis. Are you okay?"

Christi shook her head slowly, only then aware of Seifer standing behind her. He must have followed her down. She would thank him for that later, it was appreciated, she didn't feel so sick now. Stunned, scared, afraid, along with every other emotion possible. She opened her mouth and uttered the one word she knew they would understand;

"Angel…"

Genesis snapped his head around as the lowly spoken word rested on the still air of the hall. Angel…that's what Christi had called Angeal. She had never been able to say his name properly, instead calling him Angel, something that had only seemed to work out better in the little girl's mind by his white wings. But how did she know that? How did she know something only he, Alex, Angeal and Christi had been aware of? No one else knew, of that, he was more than sure.

The sound of small chains striking the tiled floor of the assembly hall rang out louder, than it should have thanks to the silence of all within. All much too busy watching the unfolding revelations before them to talk amongst themselves and supply a little privacy. The locket and dog tags were back to where he had picked them up, albeit unintentionally dropped this time as opposed to thrown down. Her pale skin, her reddish-chestnut hair, the small angle to the side of her eyes, their hue and mako gleam…

"Christi?"

"Hi…Dad."

A/N: Turned out a lot longer than I thought it would, not sure about how it turned out though over all. Let me know what you thought, thanks for reading either way huns!