Reno

"This fucking sucks, yo!" Reno grumbled as he steered the helicopter, his pride and joy, more to the east. "It will take ages before we find them, if they're not already dead." he bitched on. "It's not like Shinra would give a shit if it was you and I missing like this."

As usual, Rude kept his silence beside him. The dark-skinned man kept his eyes on the heat-seeking screens dutifully. Or so Reno assumed, but it was damn hard to know since he wore those sunglasses all the time, even when they were in private. But at least Reno had drawn a line at wearing them in bed when they're were fucking, and Rude had accepted his terms. Reluctantly.

Finally Rude honored his nagging complains with a reply in his deep, low voice. "You now there's a difference. They're invaluable to the company – we are not. But I don't doubt that at least Tseng would search for us, with or without the company's support."

"Yeah, boss-man is cool." Reno agreed as he cast a quick glance at the map to know he kept the right course. They had not yet scanned even a tenth of the giant Southern Seas in these three days. It wasn't looking very promising. And if they had actually crashed in the Northern Crater, they were lost forever and would not be found. And he and Rude had worked a goddamn lot of overtime in these days; they had only caught about two hours of sleep each every night. But at least, Reno thought, he got to fly his chopper a lot. And no meetings... But he did feel bad for Tseng, who had the President at his back nagging and raging constantly. As if that would make the missing SOLDIERS be found quicker…

Reno glanced outside the window. It looked like a storm was brewing up. That could hinder their search for days, if they were unlucky. They would have to return to the base sooner or later. Tseng would shit bricks...

"Reno!" Rude suddenly alerted, sounding very awake all of a sudden after almost dozing off in his seat. "The cameras have detected several large heat sources nearby on a small island."

"Fucking unreal, yo." Reno whispered to himself in awe. That just had to be them. So far, on all islands they had flown over, no animals big enough to confuse with humans had been detected. This just had to be them. "I'm landing on the water near the beach!" he told Rude, who just nodded firmly. The winds were harsh and the chopper trashed around but Reno, who knew he was a skilled pilot, had no bigger problems keeping it steady.

When they got closer to the island, they imminently knew just where to land. A rather large fire was burning on a certain part of the beach, next to a tent-like structure closer to the forest. And by the fire sat one of the missing SOLDIERS; young Zachary Fair. Not the one they were looking for, but hopefully the rest of them would be in one piece as well...

Reno picked up his radio to alert Tseng of their finding as they closed in on the island, which was still a little bit away. "This is Reno, yo. We have found them."

Tseng imminently picked up. "All of them?" he asked sharply. Reno could hear other excited voices in the background, and assumed Tseng was in a meeting currently. Most probably about the missing SOLDIERS.

"The only confirmed one is currently confirmed is Zachary Fair, Third Class." Reno provided. "We are closing in on the island and landing on the water next to their camp."

"Good. Put us on a video-link." Tseng demanded. Reno did as ordered, and that way Tseng could follow the operation, together with the President who he was, without a doubt, in a meeting with, via a small camera installed in Reno's uniform. And he was quite sure he heard young Rufus Shinra and the Professors Hojo and Hollander in the background as well.

The helicopter touched down heavily on the trashing waves. It was designed to be able to land on water, thankfully, as it was necessary for such a mission like this one. But Reno was somewhat worried. If the wind got any worse, they risked it tipping over because of the force. Pushing away his worries, he turned to motor off before both he and Rude inflated a small plastic boat and let it drift them to the shore about twenty meters or so away. The young man sitting by the fire met them, a large grin spreading across his face.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you!" he said with great joy, and Reno couldn't help but to grin right back at the boy.

"Right back at ya, boy." Reno joked. "Are the big guys here as well?" He knew the President and the others were waiting anxiously for the reply to his question.

"They are all here!" Zack replied, and Reno could hear the sigh of relief via the video link. "But Commander Rhapsodos is sick, sir."

"How so?" Hollander asked via Reno's radio. Zack heard the question and answered.

"He was feeling down on the plane at first, sir. Being exhausted and having a headache. Then he was unconscious after the plane crashed, for several hours. Then he was feeling rather fine, I believe, but tired. But this morning, he had a fever, mumbled incomprehensibly and was hard to wake up. And such is his state at the moment, sir." Zack reported dutifully.

"There must be something wrong with his Mako-levels. I need him brought back here as soon as possible." Hollander mused, and Reno could hear Hojo snort in distaste. Those two never failed to quarrel, no matter the situation. It was rather childish. And they both hated the fact that their beloved specimens were friends. Hojo because he didn't consider Sephiroth in need of something as useless as friends, and Hollander because of his jealousy of Hojo's position in the company.

Suddenly, the second Commander, Hewley, and the General himself appeared at the scene. They came from the forest, Sephiroth carrying three dead, bloody rabbits. They seemed to be in a hurry, and had probably heard the rather noisy chopper. Reno saluted sloppily at them. "Good day, sirs." he greeted. "Care for a ride home?"

Sephiroth snarled at him with annoyance, making Reno recoil slightly. Now there's a man he wouldn't like to piss off... Reno didn't fear a lot, but the General was just freaky and almost impossibly strong. While the Commanders were strong as well, they were in essence human. Sephiroth... just wasn't, and that tended to freak out people.

The General dumped the rabbits in the grass and disappeared into the small tent. Seconds later he emerged again, Commander Rhapsodos safely cradled in his arms. The fact that the two of them were dating was like a secret everybody knew, yet few dared to speak of. As mentioned earlier - people tended not to slander about the General.

Angeal walked over to the couple and put a caring hand on Genesis' forehead. "We're going home, Gennie." he said soothingly when the redhead wiggled slightly and frowned, as if he was not aware of his surroundings. "We're going home." Angeal repeated.

"Well, come on then." Reno said when there was nothing but silence from the other side of the radio. Time to bring them back to the headquarters for reporting, or medical attention, in Commander Rhapsodos case.

Then, he and Rude would head to their shared apartment; drink a few beers in the tub before tucking in for a day or two of pure sleep. And then some fucking, before more sleep and some more beer...

While dreaming of such joys, Reno was startled when the sky opened itself at it began raining cats and dogs. He and the rest of his company all were even more startled when a huge clash of lighting was heard and lit up the grey sky. "Let's go!" he hollered over the noise, and the others nodded in agreement. They all started walking towards the boat which would take them to the helicopter.

Then, a huge gust of wind tore through the air, almost throwing him and Rude down on the ground, since they weighted less than the enhanced warriors. Unfortunately, the wind also whipped up even larger waves, and they could only watch as the unstable helicopter tipped over. Sephiroth gave an enraged snarl as the chopper began to sink slowly into the storming sea before their eyes. Reno suddenly wished he was several miles away from the man. He just couldn't imagine why Genesis was dating the guy. Sure, he was hot as hell, but he was just so intimidating and creepy... But, anyway, they had bigger problems to worry about. Like that now they were all stranded at this damn island.

"Tseng, sir, the helicopter tipped over and sank." he reported. He heard the upset and heated arguments start at the other side of the line, and rolled his eyes. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it, right? At least they knew their position now since the helicopter had a tracker, and they could pick them up easily as soon as the storm passed. But as he glanced at the sick Commander, he at least understood the worry and the upset feelings of Angeal and Sephiroth. Genesis really didn't look well... Then, with a sparking sound, his radio gave up and the signal disappeared.

Sephiroth

The redheaded Turk was beating his radio and swearing about something, but Sephiroth had far more important things to attend to. It didn't seem like they would get off this place anytime soon, and his own redhead was sopping wet by now. With determined strides he began walking back to their now waterproof tent that he and Angeal had fixed up earlier the same day before going hunting. He could only hope the wind wouldn't break it...

He crawled inside, careful not to jostle poor Genesis. Poor, poor Genesis... Sephiroth couldn't resist pressing an adoring kiss to his flushed cheek. He heard a surprised sound from behind him, and turned with irritation evident in his eyes. It was that red-haired Turk with the sloppy clothes and his large partner. Sephiroth wanted to snarl like a wild animal and throw them out of their tent, but he supposed that wouldn't make the good-hearted Angeal very happy. He too entered the tent, followed his young Zack. Those two he could accept in here, but the Turks... Sephiroth shook those thoughts off. He knew worrying about Genesis always made him a bit loopy in the head, bringing him down to more animal instincts. But he had to focus right now, for the sake of Genesis.

They were all soaked to the bone. Sephiroth began to strip Genesis of his clothes with firm and determined, yet gentle, motions. He had to get him of the wet clothes before they made him even sicker. He could feel the stares of the Turks on his back, and once Genesis was completely stripped and wrapped up in blankets, he turned to glare at them with cold eyes. Then, he removed his own jacket, throwing it with Genesis' clothes in the corner. He kept his pants on, however, as he carefully gathered up the still sleeping Genesis in his arms, spooning him from behind to provide comfort and warmth.

Angeal seemed to get his idea of staying warm, and too began to undress, while motioning for young Zachary to do the same. The boy blushed heavily, Sephiroth noted, but complied his mentor's orders without a fuss. Like Sephiroth, they didn't undress completely, but stayed in their underwear. The Turks, however, didn't seem very prone to stripping, and sat huddled together in one of the corners of their tent.

Soon, however, as the storm continued to roar outside, the Turks began to shiver more and more. Eventually they too stripped down to their underwear with great reluctance. Sephiroth didn't imagine for a second that it was because of some sort of shyness or decency. Rather, it was probably because they didn't like being out of their uniforms and feeling vulnerable close to people who could be threats. And they kept casting suspicious glances at him, especially that skinny redhead. Sephiroth just glared right back at him, making the Turk lower his eyes eventually.

Sephiroth sighed as he clutched the shivering Genesis closer. He wanted to get away from this damn island and get his boyfriend some medical attention. He had never wished for a lab and a scientist more than he did at the moment...

But at least he was somewhat amused to notice Angeal and Zack's shy interactions. It was almost painful to watch, really. Angeal really liked the boy, but was afraid of pushing him into a relationship since he was so young and inexperienced. Zack, on the other hand, was attracted of the older man, but unsure of his feelings while doubting himself and his worthiness of Angeal. So they just kept dancing in circles around each other. But to be fair, so had Sephiroth himself done, with Genesis. He had been unsure of both his feelings for and his worthiness of the beautiful Commander Rhapsodos. And he had been so inexperienced in the art of love and relationships. Thankfully, Genesis wasn't one to beat around the bush and had shown him how to love someone. And Sephiroth hadn't regretted his decision to date Genesis one single time since.

Genesis... Sephiroth glanced down with remorse evident in his eyes at his beautiful boyfriend, who was breathing just a tad too harsh for his liking, his face flushed with fever. Oh, how Sephiroth wished or a way of here, where they could get Genesis help... And Sephiroth didn't like how unstable the sickness was. He had been sick at the plane, seemed just fine, if tired, later and now he was sick again. Just as he and Angeal had exited the forest to meet the Turks, he had heard Hollander's voice of the radio, mentioning something about Mako-levels. Well, he did knew Genesis had somewhat unstable levels, but then he had always gotten help at the first symptom, and now it had been days since then. No one knew what could happen now...