Author's Note: Wow, chapter three! This just amazes me. Many, many thanks to Nadiefor her patience and proofreading, lol. I truly appreciate it, love, and am thrilled you likey. Hopefully more to come, but you know how my muses are, the ingrates.

Anyway, hope you readers enjoy.

A General's Satisfaction

Chapter Three

"Whassa matter with you? Ain't you getting' sleep at night, sir?"

General Sephiroth glanced up from his reading to peer at the SOLDIER 1st class, one Zack Fair. The younger man casually leaned one hand on the general's paper-strewn desk and grinned whitely. Dark haired and blue-eyed, Zack was a very good SOLDIER operative, one of the best under Sephiroth's command. However, he did have a rather grating – to his commander's mind – habit of making it his job to constantly "check up" on his boss, whether said boss needed it or not.

Sephiroth sighed a long-suffering sigh and closed the email he'd been currently reading. Propping elbows on his desk and tenting his fingers, he gazed up at his protégé, wondering if throwing him through the door would be considered rude and whether or not Zack would get the point. He snorted softly; probably not.

"Don't you have troops to inspire?" he returned dryly, lifting one platinum eyebrow in query.

Zack pushed off the desk and shrugged, removing the large sword strapped to his back and reverently leaning it against the wall before flopping down in one of the chairs perpendicular to Sephiroth's desk. He rested his chin on his hand and waved the other in dismissively.

"Nah. The Director's got 'em all out in the rain today, running laps over the obstacle courses." He rolled MAKO eyes. "Said they needed 'toughening up' after such recently crappy performances."

He didn't elaborate. Neither did Sephiroth choose to comment on past events. They were still too painful to be spoken of, and the losses had been nearly devastating, not only to Shin-Ra and the SOLDIER program, but to the two men sitting in the General's office as well.

A moment of silence, then Zack piped up again, this time with a slightly lecherous grin. "Yo, dude, you seen the Prez's new secretary yet?" He whistled between his teeth. "Man, but she's hot. I nearly plowed into the elevator door just watching her walk down the damned hall."

Again, Sephiroth's eyebrows went up. "What of your flower girl? I thought you were devoted totally and only to her, the sweet child."

The general took saturnine pleasure in watching the other SOLDIER squirm. "Well," Zack fidgeted, scratching his cheek with one gloved hand, "It's not like I was leerin' or anythin'. I was just, y'know, looking, is all. I didn't even talk to her, for Shiva's sake!"

"Naturally," Sephiroth absently replied, returning to his email.

"Besides," Zack went on, forever cursed with the problem of shoving both boots in his mouth, "Reno said the way she walked looked like two cats fighting in a sack."

This time, Sephiroth just stared at the young SOLDIER, a mixture of crogglement, disbelief and exasperation marring his face. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and shook his head before returning to work. Zack snickered; Sephiroth shot him a glower.

After a moment, Zack rolled his eyes. "All right, don't get your leather in a snitch, boss-man," he said, grinning. He lazed to his feet, retrieving his sword and said, "I'll let you get back to work, o busy general. Still," he rapped smartly on Sephiroth's desk, "you do need to get out more. Take a vacation or something, huh?" With a jaunty salute, the Gongaga native sauntered from the spacious office, closing the door behind him.

Two hours later, after a rather scathing email conversation with Lazard, telling the Director he was bloody not going to the wasted city of Banora to filter through the ashes, Sephiroth scowled at his monitor and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and trying to find a modicum of calm.

He knew the director was paranoid about any SOLDIER evidence that might have been missed during the "operation" there in Banora, but Shiva be damned before he take up the chore. He'd refused it once already; why was Lazard crazy enough to think he wouldn't a second time? That's what the bloody Turks were for, by the Planet!

"Idiots, every one of them," he muttered to himself, briefly pinching the bridge of his nose. Taking a moment to reflect, he thought about Zack's earlier question. Ain't you sleepin', Sephiroth?

In truth, he was having a bit of trouble sleeping. Not only because his two best friends – friends that had been hard to come by and sometimes even harder to keep – had been branded traitors by the corporation they'd all faithfully served and then destroyed by that same organization. No, it wasn't only the memories of their time spent training and serving together that kept him from finding rest.

Sephiroth scowled; he absolutely refused to entertain such thoughts here in his office. Those damning recollections were to remain firmly ensconced in the back of his brain, kept behind a strong force of will, never to be released. But somehow, damn it all, they managed to sneak free and plague him in the dark hours of the night, when all else eluded him. They left him desolate and wanting, a fact he cursed to the nine hells and beyond.

The general frowned harder and peevishly considered throwing his letter opener at the wall, just for the satisfaction of seeing it quivering in the shining metal. Perhaps he should take the rest of the day off, spend the afternoon venting his aggravation on simulations in the training room, as he'd done yesterday, and the day before. Sephiroth wondered if they'd finished the repairs on the Wutian temple simulation yet. He'd taken great satisfaction in razing that wretched thing to the ground, although the techs had been worried about the electrical fires left in the general's wake.

Sephiroth sighed, leaning up to his desk. No, he needed to regain his focus and work, blast it. Not for the first time did he wonder if these…hauntings were side effects of the new "vitamins" introduced in his regime a few months ago. He didn't recall the exact date of their beginning, but he felt sure they were close. Perhaps he'd pay a visit to the science wing and request a detailed report…

But later. Right now, he needed to get his sorry ass back to work; there were reviews to be done, reports to manage, and files to be updated and organized. Steeling himself for a long afternoon of eye-watering misery, Sephiroth settled more comfortably in his desk chair and resumed his tasks.

The chime of his phone startled him from deep consideration over cadet reviews and Sephiroth jerked a bit, blinking as he returned to reality. Glancing at the blinking phone, he pressed the comm button and inquired, "What is it, Gerard?"

The Shin-Ra receptionist assigned to the General's Office briskly replied, "Reports, sir. Delivered from top floor and needing some signatures."

With a silent prayer for patience and the mild hope of quitting time quite soon, Sephiroth licked his lips then answered, "Very well, Gerard. Send them in."

He went back to his reports as the door opened and said without looking up, "Just sit them on the desk. I'll go over them later this afternoon." Sephiroth heard the soft thump as the file folders met the cherry wood but the answering voice froze him in surprise.

"Certainly, General. My pleasure."

It wasn't the fact that the voice was female; Sephiroth was well aware that not only men worked for Shin-Ra and although very few of them were present on the SOLDIER floor, it wasn't a totally uncommon phenomenon.

What made his blood run cold for a heartbeat and his eyes to widen on a frozen breath was the fact that the answering voice was familiar. He knew that voice, as surely as he knew he was seated in his office behind his desk. And, unfortunately, he knew it was impossible that he hear it, because right up until this very second, that damning voice had only existed in the darkest depths of his mind.

Shocked with disbelief, Sephiroth slowly lifted his head, as if afraid of what he might see. When MAKO infused aqua eyes finally found the woman's face, for a long terrifying moment the General was afraid he'd finally gone crazy.

But seeing her standing there on the other side of his desk finally cemented what he'd heard; indeed, he knew this woman. And he desperately wished he didn't. For it to be even remotely possible, he'd have to be completely comatose and living in a nightmare, one from which he desperately wished he might wake.

The silence stretched and Sephiroth gradually became aware he was staring. She didn't seem to mind, however, but one arched eyebrow lifted over deep green eyes, eyes he'd seen before, filled with stirrings of things he damned to immortal hell forever.

She tilted her head slightly, the cool white light overhead glinting on soft russet curls. "Did I miss a button, General?" she asked lightly, a small smile lifting a corner of her lips.

Sephiroth blinked, clearing his throat noisily. Totally off-balance and despising it, he coughed once and negated, "No, of course not."

Diplomacy, Sephiroth. We can do that. We haven't run mad…yet. "I apologize, madam," he went on smoothly, getting to his feet in one graceful motion. "I wasn't expecting such a courier." He extended one hand, even here gloved in soft black leather. "I don't believe we've been introduced yet." Although I won't swear to that. "Sephiroth, of SOLDIER."

Dimples winked at him with her smile and she took his hand, her grip surprisingly firm. "Marissa Lewis, President Shin-Ra's secretary. Newly acquired," she added with a roguish wink.

Her coy demeanor didn't surprise him. Why should it? I've been her victim before, by the Planet. But he kept his countenance carefully blank, adopting the semi-bored expression perfected over nearly three decades. "Welcome to Shin-Ra, Ms. Lewis."

Releasing his hand, she smiled at him again. "Thank you, General. I appreciate it." A pause, then she touched the folders atop his desk. "You'll be ready for me by five, then, yes?"

Sephiroth blinked, then digested the inherent meaning. "Ah, yes. Of course." Rather than continue to be flummoxed like a strung-out chocobo, Sephiroth opted to toss a verbal sally of his own. "I'll make certain everything's in perfect condition, Ms. Lewis, and will be quite prompt."

Although the innuendo was gentle and somewhat obscure, Marissa Lewis nonetheless chuckled, a low husky sound that lifted the hair on the General's neck and tapped fingers atop the folders as she gave him a – what was that, an inviting? – look. "Very well then, General. I'll be waiting."

She turned to leave, pausing at the door to glance back over her shoulder and add, "And don't be late…sir."

The door closed behind her and Sephiroth sat – fell – back into his chair, bewilderment etched across his face. This is impossible. A nightmare if one exists. Shiva, I need… Sephiroth groaned and his forehead fell into his hand; he rubbed his temples wearily. I don't know what the hell I need…

Well, he finally decided, there was only one way to examine this impossibility more closely. And that was to be at the top floor of the Shin-Ra Tower at precisely five o'clock. Sephiroth glanced at his computer; two hours left. He narrowed his eyes and reached for the first folder.

To be continued…