Cloud slowly opened his eyes to see a white roof and walls. He frowned slightly and tried to sit up, but pain prevented him from doing so. He glanced down and saw a thick bandage wrapped around his chest and shoulder where he had been attacked by the monster. He felt so weak, as if he had been drained of life.

"Cloud Strife, isn't it?" a woman in a white lab coat holding a clip-board walked over to him. He nodded slowly.

"Yes, that's me." he confirmed.

"It's good to see you awake. We were wondering whether you'd make it or not but it looks like the poison was successfully pumped out." she explained, smiling. Cloud blinked and pushed himself up into a sitting position despite the pain.

"Poison?" he asked.

"The beast that attacked you of course. Whenever they scratch something poison comes from their claws and infects the wounds." the scientist said.

"Oh." Cloud responded, a sudden sick feeling invading his gut. He could've died!

"Yes, it's the first time that pumping the poison has ever worked!" the scientist said excitedly. Much too excitedly for Cloud's liking.

"First time?" he asked, his voice getting a bit higher.

"Of course! We've tried it many times before, but I guess the poison must have spread too far in all of those cases." she shrugged. "You should get some more rest, you'll be needed back in SOLDIER training tomorrow."

"Tomorrow!?" Cloud gasped.

"Well, yes. Why not?" she asked, confused.

"I'm injured! Look at me!" he said. The scientist raised an eyebrow and tucked her clip-board under one arm, smiling slightly.

"Teenagers. Always making a big deal out of everything. How old are you, fourteen?" she questioned.

"No, I'm fifteen." he corrected in annoyance. She raised an eyebrow and laughed lightly, turning and walking out of the room.

"Angeal!" Zack yelled, running around the corner and almost straight into his friend. Angeal turned to face him, a smile of amusement on his face.
"Yes, Zack?" he asked.

"There's this trainee and he survived the forest! He's like half dead but alive!" Zack said, gasping for breath. He had obviously been running for a while in search of Angeal.

"Wow, really?" Angeal asked.

"Yeah! How cool is that? He was left in there for ages and had to walk all the way back to ShinRa while half dead." Zack explained.

"And this excitement you're expressing is hiding the fact you're actually ready to kill him with jealousy, right?" Angeal asked, putting his hands on his hips. Zack pouted and folded his arms.

"You're so cruel." he muttered.

"Look Zack, there are lots of people out there that are better than you, all right?" Angeal said, looking him in the eyes.

"Well duh! You don't have to rub it in!" Zack spat.

"Oh well, did you finish your paperwork?" Angeal asked, changing the subject so Zack wouldn't be too angry.

"Of course!" Zack said straight away, then paused. "Well, most of it." he admitted with a sheepish grin.

"You know what you're going to go do right now, don't you?" Angeal asked. "I'm supposed to be training you to be a better SOLDIER, how can I do that when you won't even complete your paperwork?"

"Come on, paperwork is like, unimportant." Zack shrugged.

"No it's not Zack." Angeal said. "Come on, you need to go do your work." Zack rolled his eyes but walked off to do it and a look of sadness came over Angeal's face as he watched him walk away. But he couldn't tell him, he couldn't tell Zack what was being planned.

Rufus Shinra himself walked into the infirmary. Cloud looked up and his eyes widened as he recognised him.

"Cloud Strife, isn't it?" Rufus asked.

"Yes, sir." Cloud replied.

"I see. So you're the one that survived the beast in the forest, am I right?" he asked, as if he wasn't certain.

"Yes, sir." Cloud repeated, not knowing what else to say.

"Sign of a true SOLDIER, that is." Rufus said. "If you work hard in all your training and don't slack off, you could make it up to first class in no time." Cloud stared at him, wondering if what he was saying was true. Could he, Cloud, really get to first class in no time at all?

"Thank you, sir." he said quietly. Rufus nodded slowly and then turned, walking out. Outside the room he motioned for his two best turks, Reno and Rude, to come over and walk with him.

"Need something sir?" Reno asked.

"Make sure the kid in the infirmary doesn't find out about his parents." Rufus said simply. Reno glanced at Rude, but as usual the bodyguards face was emotionless.

"Sure thing boss!" Reno said, fake saluting. Rufus glanced over at him with a slight look of disapproval but then sighed and turned the corner, leaving them. "I wonder who the kids parents are." Reno said, pretending to study his nails.

"Don't find out, it'll be easier that way." Rude said.

"What do you mean?" Reno asked, looking up.

"If you find out who his parents are you might be more compelled to tell him. If you don't know you can't tell if it's a good or bad thing and you're more likely to do your job." he explained.

"Rude, that's not fair! Come on, I'm just curious is all. I won't tell him, all right?" Reno pleaded.

"If you find out, you're on your own. And don't tell me who they are either." Rude turned and walked off and Reno grinned.

"You're saying Genesis hasn't shown up for the past two weeks training programs and you didn't tell me?" Rufus asked, anger laced with his words as he tried to conceal it.

"Yes sir." the quiet reply came.

"This place is falling apart! How can I have my SOLDIER's as the best of all when they don't turn up for training and the person supposed to make sure they come won't even find them!?" Rufus yelled.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Go find him, right now." Rufus ordered. When the man didn't move he clenched his teeth. "Well what are you waiting for?" he snapped.

"Sir, I've already looked for Genesis over these past two weeks and haven't been able to find him." he explained.

"I don't care! Look again!" Rufus narrowed his eyes and walked out of the room in a bad mood.

Angeal stretched and glanced over at Genesis, who was still leaning over the computer and tapping away at the keys.

"How long are you going to be?" Angeal asked, resuming his watching the door to make sure no one found them in there. There was no reply for a moment but then Genesis stood up straight and smirked.

"Done. Come on." Angeal headed over and followed Genesis as he walked towards the mako reactors. Pushing a button on the first one, the mako began draining out.

"I still don't get why we're doing this." Angeal said, glancing back over at the door as he went over to the second and pressed an identical button which made the mako in that one drain slowly out.

"And I don't have time to explain it, hurry up and drain the last one." he instructed. Once it was done, they both headed for the door again but Genesis grabbed Angeal's arm to stop him for a second. "You realise it starts now, don't you? They're going to get our fingerprints because that's how I planned it, are you ready or would you like me to wipe where you've touched so you can leave?"

"I'm ready. I agree with you on your views of ShinRa, Genesis." Angeal replied firmly.

"Good. Now hurry up and get what you want together so we can go." Genisis said, swiftly leaving the room and disappearing down the hallway. Angeal went the opposite way to his quarters, grabbing what he wanted and then leaving again to meet up at the designated spot.

"Angeal! I finished the paperwork!" Zack came running up once again. He stopped as he saw the things Angeal was holding in his arms. "Whatcha doing?" he asked curiously.

"Uh, nothing you need to worry about. Just clearing some stuff out." Angeal tried to walk past him but Zack gave the puppy-dog eyes.

"Am I annoying?" he asked quietly.

"No, Zack, why would you think that?" Angeal asked.

"Well, you're always trying to get away from me." Zack shrugged.

"I'm just really busy right now, I'm sorry." Angeal once again tried to get past him. The alarm sounded and Zack stared at Angeal for a moment before running off to see what was going on. Angeal took that moment to run in the opposite direction.

Cloud looked up, watching the doctors all hurriedly lock folders in cabinets as the alarm went off. They all knew there was an enemy somewhere in ShinRa and didn't want their documents to be stolen.

"What's going on?" Cloud asked.

"Hush, stay quiet." one nurse said, putting a finger to her lips urgently. He frowned slightly but did as asked, not speaking up as everyone slowly left the room and he was alone again.

"Quick!" Genesis yelled as Angeal ran towards him and the exit of ShinRa. There were people running around in a frenzy and many of them were staring at Angeal and Genesis, wondering if they had something to do with this. The two of them left ShinRa and kept running, some other guards appearing from other exits and all following them.

Zack ran into the lab and stared at the empty mako reactors. Rufus Shinra turned to face him with a scowl on his face as some remaining scientists finished getting the fingerprints.

"Did you have something to do with this too, Zack?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Zack asked, confused.

"Where you working with Angeal and Genesis?" Rufus snapped angrily. Zack stood there staring at him for a minute before his eyes began widening in disbelief. Rufus sighed, knowing that Zack couldn't fake such shock.

"What happened?" Zack asked.

"They emptied the mako reactors which were scheduled to be used this afternoon by a couple of scientists wanting to conduct an experiment." Rufus informed him.

"On SOLDIER's?" Zack asked.

"No, Zack. Would you listen? It doesn't matter what the experiments were for. Angeal and Genesis have directly disobeyed an order by involving themselves in matters that are confidential and stopping something from proceeding which had been given the go-ahead." Rufus continued. "They must be planning something. They deleted all the files for the experiments from the computer."

"Angeal wouldn't do that!" Zack protested, his eyes blazing.

"At least I can know for sure you're on our side, Zack." Rufus turned back to one of the scientists and Zack looked around, his eyes narrowed in anger that people were blaming Angeal.

"What if they were framed?" Zack asked. Rufus turned back to him with a bored expression on his face.

"Zack, they did this deliberately so that we'd find their fingerprints and know it was them. Besides, Genesis hasn't turned up to training for a week." Zack frowned, still not believing that his best friend would betray him like that.

"There must be a reason. Maybe they're just playing a prank by emptying the mako, come on." Zack shrugged, trying to think of reasons for their actions.

"Has Angeal acted strangely lately Zack?" Rufus asked.

"Of course not! He's normal! As normal as anyone can be when they're a SOLDIER, at least." he replied.

"Right, this investigation will be continued later on. Zack, get back to whatever you were just doing." Rufus instructed, leaving the room. Zack narrowed his eyes into a glare and walked off in a huff.