A/N: Sorry it's late, guys! I had a bit of a hectic weekend (understatement). Last chapter was almost the end of the stuff I had pre-written. I wrote about half this chapter in the past week, and a quarter of it in the last few hours. Whew...

Anyway, enjoy!

"…I see."

So that was all the input Lazard had? Well, that was awfully helpful. His anticlimactic reaction and the surprising quietness of the room made my jittery nerves all the more noticeable. I stood at attention, my back straight, my face forced into a neutral expression as I stared at a spot just above the Director's head. It took all I had to keep from shaking with the adrenaline still running through my system.

"At ease," he said, and I let my posture relax. He laced his fingers together, leaning his elbows on his desk and watching me. "…Brittany, is it? I'm sorry our first meeting had to be like this. You've done well."

"Ah…thank you, sir," I said, though I didn't feel any pleasure at the praise.

I had come here as instructed, delivering my report as calmly as I could and detailing what had happened from the start of the mission. When I left out all of the details involving Jace and my Exsphere, the story ended up being surprisingly short. All I was supposed to know was that the monster was abnormally strong.

After a beat, Lazard sighed and pushed away from the desk so he could stand up. "…This is troubling indeed. On the rare occasions HQ has been breached, the damage has never been this serious. Fifteen men injured and one missing…and SOLDIERs nonetheless. I'll be very interested to find out where this monster came from."

I remained silent, thinking this over. What would Shinra do when the Exbelua was found out to be Jace? Not try to save him, surely. Kill him and perform some big coverup? No…too many men had seen him, that wouldn't work.

"What happens now, Director?" I asked, knowing the question would be expected.

He adjusted his glasses, seeming to think for a moment. "I've recalled a few others from their missions; they should be here shortly. We'll have to secure the SOLDIER floor. Heidegger has already issued orders to the Security Department; the rest of the building should be safe for now. I'd prefer to get this mess sorted out before the Turks arrive."

At that, his phone began to ring. He frowned, checking the screen, and then some of the tension in his shoulders seemed to disappear. He lifted it to his ear and answered.

"Angeal. Your timing is impeccable. What is your situation?"

I shifted a little, waiting and wishing I could make out the other end of the conversation. Nothing in Lazard's expression betrayed his thoughts or what might be going on. He was too collected for that.

"Hmm…yes. Please remain where you are. I'd like to see it for myself." He paused, and then smiled slightly. "Yes, yes, there's no need to worry. She's right here."

Oh, Angeal was asking about me. What, did he think I had run off? Maybe he had seen something in my expression as I had left. I was still feeling a little sick from the whole ordeal.

Lazard spoke for a few more seconds, exchanging some short phrases before finally saying goodbye. Then he turned to look at me, nodding a little.

"Angeal and Kunsel seem to have things under control. I'd like you to accompany me to meet them."

"Ah…yes. Of course," I straightened, apprehension weighing down on me once more. "Shall we go?"

He smiled a bit. "Lead the way, SOLIDER."

The SOLDIER floor felt eerie with so few people populating it. Occasionally I would see a Third run by, hoisting some piece of equipment in an attempt to straighten things out and make the halls more accessible. Other than that…well, with all the blood smeared everywhere, it felt almost like a certain scene from the game.

I led the director towards the Third Class barracks, where I had left Angeal and Kunsel earlier. As it turned out, the battle had ended not too far from where that was; eventually I saw the familiar figures, standing around a large figure that was sprawled on the floor.

The First nodded. "The rest of the floor seems to be clear."

"Is this our monster?" Lazard asked, walking closer. We came to stand in a rough circle around the fallen Exbelua. "It's smaller than I was expecting."

"But it packs quite a punch," Kunsel remarked.

I remained silent, staring down at the warped figure that Jace had become. Angeal looked a little winded, but the elite SOLDIER had definitely done quite a number on him; the floor was covered in crimson smears. It was enough to make me feel sick all over again.

That was when I noticed that the Exbelua was still breathing. Angeal had never dealt the finishing blow. Why?

"It's still alive?" Lazard voiced my thoughts, his brow furrowing slightly.

Angeal grimaced and averted his gaze. "Sir…look at it. I can't help but feel like there's something I'm missing, and I don't like it."

The Director frowned, approaching Jace carefully and examining him more closely. "…Clothes…? A SOLDIER uniform…?"

"It's even humanoid in shape," Kunsel said, his voice grim.

Lazard straightened, backing away a step and staring at the Exbelua thoughtfully. "If that's the case," he murmured, "that would explain how this floor was breached…"

Jace groaned weakly, shifting on the floor. We all took another step back to get out of his range. After a beat, he fell silent and still once more.

"What should we do with it, then?" Kunsel asked. "If…if that's somehow one of ours, do you think there's a way—"

He was cut off by the sound of a gunshot. We all jumped, and I looked down just in time to see the side of Jace's head disappear in a shower of red. The abruptness of it felt like a punch in the gut, and my head snapped up as I searched for the source of the shot.

The smoking gun belonged to Tseng. He was walking up to us alongside another male Turk with dirty blond hair, the two of them impeccably dressed in the usual suits. They were so unruffled by all of this that it made them seem almost out of place, apart from the chaos.

"You—!" For the first time, I saw Angeal lose his composure as shock and indignation flashed in his eyes. Then it was gone and he immediately cut himself off, gritting his teeth with frustration instead.

"Regardless of whether or not it was once SOLDIER…" Tseng holstered the gun, fixing us all with a flat stare. "…We cannot afford to further compromise the safety of the building. The creature was far too dangerous to be allowed to live."

His cold words flooded me with a feeling of helplessness, and I wanted to scream. How merciless…to kill Jace like that, despite knowing that he might be killing a human being. This was the reality of the Turks.

Jace was dead. So swiftly. I had known this was coming, had known it was inevitable, but that didn't make it any less sickening. How meaningless this all was…all because I had lost sight of my Exsphere for so short a period of time. I had never truly considered the amount of damage that thing could do in the wrong hands.

…In the wrong hands. I froze up, seeing the situation in an entirely new light.

"…I see," Director Lazard said quietly. "You'll be taking things from here, I presume?"

Tseng nodded. "Please cordon off this area. The Science Department will arrive shortly to collect the body. We should be finished with our investigation by nightfall, but I will notify you should complications arise."

"Very well." Lazard nodded, and then turned to us. "I'll leave you three to do one last patrol of the floor. Meet me in my office in one hour for the mission debriefing."

"Sir," Kunsel and I said in unison. Angeal nodded, looking just a bit weary.

And that was that. Lazard walked away, leaving the area. Angeal was motioning for Kunsel and I to follow him. I hesitated, staring at Jace's corpse and feeling faintly dizzy.

The Science Department. Of course they would want to take the Exbelua and dissect it and do all sorts of awful things to it. But I couldn't let them—if they took Jace, they were taking my Exsphere, too. If they had that…if Hojo got ahold of that…

Fuck. Tseng was watching me.

Feeling cold, I turned and followed Kunsel and Angeal. There was absolutely nothing I could do, not with two Turks standing right there. And even if I did make some move for the Exsphere, the two SOLDIERs with me would probably try to stop me too. I'd only succeed in making myself look crazy and arousing even more suspicion.

Shit, shit, shit!

Despite my inner turmoil, all I could do was follow my two superiors and try to pretend everything was just fine.

The place seemed too quiet. The lights in the hallway were too bright. I kept my eyes focused on the backs of my companions, reminding myself to keep my feet moving while I fought to think of a solution to this. And all the while, I had the image of Jace's face in my head, reminding me of what could never be reversed.

He had been a bastard…but he'd also had his whole life ahead of him. Who was to say he wouldn't have changed at some point, become a person I could be friends with? There was no telling, and now his future was lost forever. I had killed before, and I had seen people die…but this, this had been for nothing.

What was I going to do? Someone else had the Exsphere and I had the Key Crest—there was no way this was going to end well. I couldn't let anyone else suffer through this, but at the same time…if I made the wrong move, I might get myself killed before I could fix it.

"…Sir," Kunsel said after a sufficient amount of time had passed. "Do you think that was…?"

Angeal was silent for so long that I didn't think he was going to reply. But then he just shook his head slowly, looking grim.

"I'm sure the company report will be out by tomorrow. We'll see who was killed in action."

"Damn," Kunsel murmured solemnly. "To think they'd just take out one of our own like that…those Turks are ruthless."

"What I'm more concerned about is how this happened in the first place," Angeal replied. "Regardless, I'm sure it will be kept secret for the most part. I don't recommend either of you speak about this to anyone until the investigation is finished."

"Just gonna sweep it under the rug, huh…" the Second sighed. "If that's the case, then I sure as hell hope they don't let this happen again."

"Agreed," Angeal said. He looked genuinely unhappy for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure and smoothed his expression out once more. "Well, we'd better get back to work. I'll take the east end of the floor; you two take the west. Let's meet back in front of the elevator in forty minutes."

"Yes, sir," we chorused.

We split up, and I tried my best to focus on the task at hand.

The rest of that day passed in a blur in which I numbed myself to just about everything. Our last patrol of the SOLDIER floor revealed nothing, as expected, and the mission debriefing was nothing special—just reiterating everything we already knew. Lazard ordered us to take the rest of the day off.

Zack returned from a mission and immediately came to Kunsel for all the juicy details, inviting the both of us out for drinks while the Turks were lurking around our floor. Kunsel went; I declined again, despite their insistence. Instead I headed out on my own to explore Midgar, just killing time in an attempt to keep myself from brooding.

By the time night fell, all was well once more on the SOLDIER floor. No more shady men in suits; it was safe for me to return. Since it was getting pretty late, I felt safe lingering by myself in the lounge rather than going back to my room-closet. It was easier to think out here, looking out the enormous window at the city lights.

What in the world was I going to do about this little predicament…

"Well, well…I always do miss all of the excitement, it seems," a voice drawled from behind me, causing me to sit up a little straighter.

"Genesis?" I turned around, surprised. Surely enough, the red-clad First was walking up, a small smirk on his face. "…How was Wutai?"

His smile thinned.

"My friend, the fates are cruel

There are no dreams, no honor remains

The arrow has left the bow of the goddess."

I blinked, processing that for a moment. Bitter? Disillusioned? Unsurprising…but he had come back. He hadn't deserted. That was something, right?

"So…thumbs down, then."

Genesis snorted. "How very astute of you. I'm afraid our beloved General stole most of the glory, as per usual."

I frowned. "Oh, that's all?"

The humor faded from his expression and suddenly he was a little harder to read. "No, but that's hardly something we should discuss here."

The commander walked around the end of the sofa I was sitting on, moving to take a seat next to me. Oh boy…he wanted an actual conversation. I was pretty rusty at socializing nowadays.

"I heard about the commotion earlier," he said, swiftly changing the subject to something I was uncomfortable with.

"Did you?" I asked dully. "It's all over with, anyway. The Turks came in and did their thing."

He watched me carefully, speaking in a lowered voice. "Yes, I'm aware. I spoke with a contact in the Science Department—he stated that the source of the creature's power seemed to be a strange materia embedded in its flesh."

"A materia?" I frowned, inwardly feeling my blood run cold. This was bad. They knew about it already? "...Is this something I need to know? I thought this whole thing was supposed to be hush-hush."

"Hmph." He smirked, closing his eyes. "I suppose you don't need to know. There are a lot of things you don't need to know…but to me you seem rather informed already. How is that, I wonder?"

"That's hardly something we should discuss here," I parroted back, keeping my face carefully blank. Shit, Genesis…I knew you were going to be a problem. Dammit, why had I let myself get roped into joining SOLDIER?

"Fair enough," he relented, leaning back.

I contemplated trying to escape, but decided against it. His pose was nonchalant but I suspected he had no intention of letting me leave just yet. This was uncomfortable; I had no idea how to interact with anyone around here, never mind someone like Genesis. Kunsel, at least, was down-to-earth and on my level. I wasn't even sure what Genesis' personality was like—before I would've used the word 'bitter', but that trait didn't seem to define him anymore.

"…You should be careful."

"Huh?" I frowned, glancing over to him. He had spoken low enough that I could just barely hear him. His eyes were still closed, but the smirk was gone.

"When the Turks are assigned to do a background check, it's unheard of that they return empty handed. Shinra considers you something of an anomaly, you see. I suggest you start considering which answers are the correct ones to give at this point."

"The correct answers, huh." Was he warning me to think of a backstory or encouraging me to tell the truth? Considering his tone and the fact that he was speaking in such a hushed manner, I had to think it was the former.

I scowled. "There's no way you'd trust me enough to help me at this point. I know I saved you, but you don't know anything about me."

Genesis' eyes snapped open and he actually looked offended.

"There is no hate, only joy

For you are beloved by the goddess

Hero of the dawn, healer of worlds."

"LOVELESS isn't an answer!" I protested.

"Oh, but it is," he replied. "You liberated me. Of course, you have no way of knowing the true significance of the deed…you'll just have to take my word for it. Rest assured, you and I will never be enemies."

Never…? I had to question that. I was so used to the suspicious looks from my last journey that I found myself very skeptical of Genesis' supposed loyalty. Could I even afford to trust him? He hadn't become the big villain he was supposed to be, but that didn't mean the potential didn't still exist…

A small, traitorous part of me was comforted and even a little happy at his words. I wanted to think that someone was on my side here. But no…even Genesis might turn on me. Sure I had saved him, but I was also planning on walking away without doing the same for his two best friends. He might think a little differently of me if he knew that.

"Yeah, well…" I sighed, getting to my feet. "I appreciate the sentiment. Anyway, I should be getting to bed now…training starts early tomorrow."

He stared hard at me for a moment, and then smirked and shook his head. "Good night, then."

"Night," I managed, a little taken aback; I hadn't expected to be let off the hook so easily. Not wanting to pass up the opening, I immediately made my escape and headed off to my room.

Then I realized that since Genesis was back from Wutai, I'd be seeing him a lot more often now. Oh…that explained it. He had all the time in the world to quote poetry and make weird remarks and ask prying questions. All right, guess I'd just have to add him to the list of people I had to avoid.

Still, though…his advice was pretty sound. I never realized just how soon I'd have to make use of it.

The next morning started out pretty routine; I got up early and suited up, grabbing Kerberos and heading out to the usual training grounds. The rest of my regiment was waiting there; new arrivals trickled in every few minutes until almost everyone was present.

Only a few were missing—those that had been caught up in the attack were still in the infirmary. Jace, of course, was absent. Some people were talking about the events in hushed voices; nobody had a solid idea of what had happened yet, as the company report still hadn't been released. I saw Todd standing off to the side, pale-faced and silent, and felt some pity for him.

"Any idea where the Lieutenant is?"

I blinked, glancing around, and realized I was standing alone. Huh, that meant the SOLDIER was talking to me. This was a strange development.

After an awkward pause, I shrugged. "Haven't seen him. Isn't he usually here by now?"

The man wore a thoughtful frown. He looked to be about my age, with blond shoulder-length hair. I remembered seeing him around, but I had never spoken to him before.

"He's always been a really punctual guy. Technically training started ten minutes ago, right? Maybe it's cancelled because of…well, you know." He anxiously ran a hand through his hair, and then seemed to remember himself. "Oh. I'm Luxiere, by the way."

"…Brittany," I replied.

"I know," he replied, tilting his head a little. "Kind of hard to forget the name of the only girl around here, anyway. Hey, I heard you gave Jace a beating the other day. That was pretty cool! Show everyone around here what you're made of, right? He's always been the type that's hard to deal with."

"Ah, yeah…" I bit my lip, averting my gaze. Luxiere, huh…I vaguely remembered that name. Either way he had no idea…

"Oh," he said suddenly. "Right. He's in the infirmary with the rest of the guys. I really shouldn't be saying anything, should I? I don't really like him, but here's hoping he heals up quickly."

"Same here," I replied, giving up. I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news.

That was when I heard the door to the training grounds slide open. The conversation died down and everyone looked over to see the new arrival. It wasn't Angeal.

Hushed whispers started up again as the teen walked past us to the front of the group. A lot of people knew who he was—higher in rank even amongst the Seconds, friends with just about everyone, Angeal's student…

"Hey!" Zack waved to us with a grin, and everyone immediately stood at attention. He just snorted, shaking his head. "No, no, don't bother with that. Uh, at ease, guys."

The Thirds relaxed, showing a mixture of amusement and respect. He was well liked amongst his peers, friendly and informal with those who were of lesser rank. No doubt everyone was wondering why he was here, but his presence wasn't unwelcome.

"So, I know you're probably wondering where Angeal is," Zack said, placing his hands on his hips. "Well, he's kind of tied up in a meeting right now, so he asked me to cover for him today. Name's Zack Fair, Second Class! Nice to meet'cha!"

I found myself fighting the urge to grin; having Zack as an instructor sounded like fun, but I wasn't allowed to have fun, dammit. Just…get through the training without incident. Blend in with the rest of the regiment. Then—

Zack noticed me, smiling and raising a hand in greeting. Crap. I hesitantly raised a hand back.

Thankfully, though, that was the extent of our communication. There was no time to talk since he had to supervise the training session and keep track of everyone; from then on, it was all business. It turned out that although he was excitable and made us do way too many squats, Zack wasn't all that bad of an instructor. He and Angeal were both good at keeping the guys motivated, but they had different methods.

By the end of the session, I was just as sore as usual. Luxiere had decided that Zack was just about the best thing since sliced bread, and was looking at him with admiration. Ah, that was right—Luxiere was the guy who looked up to Zack and sent him emails in Crisis Core. Was this how it started? Weird.

After Zack declared the training over, everyone began to disperse and head back to the Third Class barracks. The Second exchanged a few words of encouragement with some of the others, and then strolled over to me.

"Hey, how've you been? I heard you were involved with that big incident yesterday," he said, curious.

"I'm doing fine," I replied, inspecting Kerberos before sheathing it. "Angeal was the one who took care of everything. I just guarded the Director."

"What a first mission that must've been." Zack whistled appreciatively. "Bummer, though. I was all the way in Junon."

"Well—" I started to reply, but was cut off mid-sentence by Victory Fanfare. Oh, hey! Excuse not to socialize!

I pulled the phone out of my pocket, looking at the caller ID on the screen. It was a blocked number. Still, I shrugged. "Hold on a second."

Zack nodded, crossing his arms and falling silent. I pressed the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Miss Furness. Is this an inconvenient time?"

My eyes widened. Turks…not good. "Tseng? Er—no. What is it?"

The Second next to me shifted a little, clearly trying to hide how interested he suddenly was.

"I have a few questions for you about what transpired yesterday. Nothing to be concerned about—this is standard protocol. Are you free?"

Ugh…well, it wasn't like I could avoid it without looking suspicious. "Sure. Where do you want to meet?"

"Twenty-third floor, office 232. You'll remember it as the same place we met last time. Can you be there in thirty minutes?"

"That should be fine," I replied in a neutral voice.

"All right. I'll see you then."

With that, he hung up. I lowered the phone with a sigh. Hopefully 'a few questions' wasn't Turk-speak for interrogation.

"Turks? What's that about?" Zack asked.

I just shook my head. "They're still investigating what happened yesterday. Anyway, I have to go."

"Okay," he said, nodding. "But hold up a sec. Can I see your phone?"

He fiddled with it for a minute before handing it back with a smile. "Just thought I'd give you my number. You ever want to do another practice mission, give me a call! I'm getting Angeal to show me the controls to the simulation training room."

"Oh…all right," I replied. "Be seeing you, then."

"Right!" He nodded and watched me go.

I made a beeline for my room, lost in thought. Zack's words were quickly pushed to the side in favor of my upcoming conversation with Tseng. Genesis was just warning me about this last night…had he seen it coming? What were the right answers to give, anyway?

After cleaning up and changing into some clean clothes, I headed out and made my way to the main elevators.

The twenty-third floor hadn't grown any more interesting since my last visit. Despite how bland the place was, I found myself growing to hate it; I was starting to associate it with feelings of anxiety and helplessness.

I passed Reno on my way down the hallway. He was standing at an intersection, one hand shoved in his pocket while he tapped his EMR lazily against his shoulder with the other. He nodded to me in greeting.

"Down the hall and to your left, yo."

"Got it," I replied, passing him. Reno standing guard, huh…the Turks were being cautious as usual.

Brushing those thoughts aside, I followed his instructions and easily found the right office. A brisk knock on the door earned a call for me to enter, and I let myself in.

Tseng sat calmly at his desk, watching me. He gestured to the chair opposite him, and I complied. I kept my face neutral, fighting not to let my anxiety show. So many things could go wrong. I had to choose my words carefully, especially with someone like this.

"Thank you for coming," Tseng said, folding his hands in front of him on the desk. "I understand you've already done this for the Director, but I'd like to hear your version of events directly from you. Please give me a full account of yesterday's mission from start to finish."

I nodded, and then began to speak in a flat voice, mechanically telling him the same story I'd told to Lazard—with all the appropriate parts left out. He remained silent through the whole thing, his face unreadable.

"…I see," he finally said when I finished. "The monster. What was your impression of it?"

"It…it was wearing a SOLDIER uniform," I remarked quietly.

Tseng nodded. "Your comrades expressed similar concerns. Rest assured that it was nothing but an escaped research specimen from the Science Department. That's all you need to know."

My brows twitched, but I stopped them from drawing together. It was a blatant lie, but it would be stupid to challenge him.

"The company report will be released later today," the Turk replied. "Refrain from speaking of these events openly until then. What you know is sensitive information, and I recommend you treat it as such."

"Yes, sir," I replied. It wasn't something I really wanted to talk about anyway. The Turks could have their little cover up. "Is that all you needed me for?"

"Actually, there's something else I've been wanting to address," he replied, staring at me hard.

Oh, boy…

"What is it?" I asked.

"Under normal circumstances, Shinra performs extensive background checks prior to hiring new personnel. You are no exception, though we did our research a bit late." His face remained calm, completely composed.

"However…" he continued, "No records of a 'Brittany Furness' exist in Mideel, though you claim to have been born there. In addition to that, I have received reports of an incident in Junon in which you were unable to provide identification to one of our troops. How do you explain that?"

"It's…" I sighed, wishing I had more time. "It's kind of a long story."

"We have plenty of time," Tseng assured me. "Your situation remains the same—you are more useful to us in our employment. I'm willing to look past your infraction in Junon if you'd answer my questions truthfully now. Help me fill in the gaps on your company file, and hopefully this will be the last of our little meetings."

His tone suggested that if he had to call me up here again for anything but standard company business, it wouldn't be pleasant.

"All right," I agreed; what choice did I have?

He reached for the laptop that was open on the desk, typing in a few things. Then he glanced over at me.

"Your full name—first, middle, and last."

"Brittany Allana Furness," I replied, and then spelled it out for him.

"Age?"

"Twenty-one."

"Height and weight."

"Five foot four, one hundred thirty pounds."

He nodded, inputting the information. "That's your natural hair color?"

"Yes."

His next few questions were relatively easy to answer, and I was able to reply truthfully. Then, of course, things got a little more difficult. He started delving into my past.

"You were born in Mideel. Correct?"

"Yeah," I said. There were no other answers to give—I'd look suspicious changing my story, and it wasn't like they'd find records of me in any other town either.

"Do you have family in Mideel?"

"No."

"Explain," he ordered promptly.

"I'm adopted," I replied. Time to use that backstory I'd been toying with over the past few days…it wasn't great, but it was all I had. "My real parents…I honestly don't know. They might be dead." I took a deep breath before continuing. "I was three years old when my adoptive father found me in the woods on the outskirts of Mideel; all I could really tell him at that age was my name. He and his wife searched high and low for my family and came up empty handed. I've always said I was born in Mideel, but in all honesty, there's no way for me to know for sure."

Tseng was scribbling information down in a black notebook. When I stopped speaking, he looked up at me. It was impossible to read him as usual; I couldn't tell if he believed me or not.

"I see. Tell me more about this family, then. Your mother and father?"

Here came the interesting part. One thing I'd learned was that it was always easier to lie if you mixed in some truth; my story was one big convoluted mess, but I fully intended to use real people.

"Kratos and Anna Aurion. Anna…died of illness a few months after I was found. I don't remember her very well."

"Is there anyone else?"

"There's Lloyd, my younger brother," I replied.

Not gonna lie—I was just a little bit amused by the story I was telling, but I couldn't let that show. What would Lloyd and Kratos think if they heard me now? It wasn't like the relationships were all that far-fetched—Lloyd and I were definitely close enough to be siblings, and Kratos had been a definite mentor to me during the last journey.

"Where are they living now?"

I shook my head. "We've been living as mercenaries for as long as I can remember. Dad wasn't one to stay in the same spot for long."

"And what led to the incident in Junon?" Tseng was watching me carefully.

I sighed. "We were separated in the middle of a hunt for a Malboro that was causing a lot of trouble down by Banora. I couldn't find them again after that; I headed to Junon because that was where our next job was."

"And your papers?"

My brow furrowed. "I guess Dad has them. I never had to worry about it before—our line of work is…well, under the table. He always took care of those types of things."

"What reason did you have to flee our men, then?"

"I didn't want to be detained for no reason," I replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You said it yourself—there's no records of me in Mideel. I don't have any physical proof of anything, really. I wanted to find my father and brother, not be holed up in some cell while being questioned by Shinra personnel."

"Whole lot of good that did me," I added dryly, giving Tseng a meaningful look.

His brow quirked, but he didn't press the issue. Instead he moved right on to asking for physical descriptions of Lloyd and Kratos, which I readily supplied. It was easy to tell the truth when I knew there was no way anyone would ever find them.

By the time he was finished with his questions, Tseng had typed up an entire file on me, which he printed out and added to a thick binder. There was no indication of whether or not he believed my story. Rather than challenging me, he simply gave me a flat look.

"Thank you for your time. I'll have a copy of your personnel file sent to you in the morning; that along with your Shinra ID should be a sufficient substitute for the papers you lost."

"Thank you," I said, hiding my surprise. Well, legitimate identification…that was actually a big help. I might be able to get around outside of Shinra now without having to explain myself at every turn.

"We will extensively review the information you've given us," Tseng added, his eyes cold. "I'm telling you now that falsehoods will not be tolerated—don't give us a reason to brand you a threat. Can you confirm that everything you've told me was the truth?"

"It was, sir," I replied, intentionally meeting his gaze.

He watched me for another second before nodding. "Very well. You may leave."

I nodded in turn, and was very happy to get the hell out of there.

A/N: And there you have it, OC Brit's usual half-assed backstory. I find it amusing. XD Of course, her "family" is conveniently impossible to track and she has no real hometown! Tseng won't take note of this, right?! Nope, she's not suspicious at all.

Some Genesis interaction, whoo! We'll be seeing him some more soon, hopefully in a more lighthearted context.

I'm going to try to keep updating regularly, but I can't make any promises. It's really hard to update weekly with 5000+ word chapters when I have school, work, and several other stories that I'm supposed to update regularly too. ;_; I haven't really hit much writer's block with this yet, though, so hopefully next chapter will be up on time.

Next time: Estuans interius ira vehementi...