Angeal wasn't hard to find. All Sephiroth had to do was head in the opposite direction to everyone he came across and eventually he found the other man sending off two last people to search a different part of ShinRa.

"The prisoner?" Sephiroth asked as he stopped beside his friend. Angeal looked over at him and then frowned, glancing past him as if looking for someone before fixing his eyes back on his face.

"Yeah, he's escaped." Angeal nodded and then paused before seeming to decide to voice his question. "Did Roy Peters see you on your way here?"

"No, why?" Sephiroth asked curiously.

"I sent him to search of you," Angeal said with a shrug. "He thought you'd have a better idea of what was going on."

"No I-" Sephiroth shifted his weight. "I just left the lab when the alarm went off."

"What for this time?" Angeal asked quickly, eyebrows narrowing. "You've been going there a lot more than usual. Genesis has noticed too – and he's been in Wutai most of the time!"

"It's nothing," Sephiroth said darkly. "Just mako dosages like normal."

"Whatever you say," Angeal sighed, clearly not believing him.

"Did Peters say where he was going to start looking?" Sephiroth asked to move the conversation back to the previous topic.

"I sent him up to floor 49," Angeal said. "Since I didn't know where you were I figured he could start there. He won't be in too much danger, either. I doubt Sergei would hang around on the SOLDIER floor."

Sephiroth didn't say anything for a moment as his friends words processed through his mind. Then his eyes widened. "In the case of an emergency the SOLDIER floor empties quickly as everyone rushes to be given instructions or carry them out. Sergei was a 2nd Class. He knows. That's probably where he is!"

He didn't wait for a response, instead turning and running as fast as he could down the corridor towards the nearest elevator. His hand had already found the hilt of his sword but was waiting since he knew the walls of the building would be lacerated should he pull it out while he ran.

He never should have given up the chase when they were in Wutai and had the opportunity to kill the rebellion group - why he had received orders to he still didn't know – and now that Sergei had escaped there was no doubt in Sephiroth's mind that his team had come to get him out.

That meant Kayli was in a lot more danger than she realised. And Angeal had no idea that she was even a girl as he'd sent her off! Sephiroth realised far too late that he should have been a lot more honest with his friend, but he couldn't do anything about it right now.

What he could do was find Kayli and finally put an end to the troubles they'd been having with Sergei's rebellion group.

The 49th floor was silent besides the alarm as Kayli, Davis and Jensen stepped out of the elevator. For a moment Kayli wondered if they'd come to the right place, but she'd been there often enough to recognise the corridor and reassured herself with that knowledge. Gesturing at Davis and Jensen to follow, she set off quietly down the hall to where she knew Sephiroth's office was.

She felt a surge of relief when it finally came into view and her steps quickened involuntarily. Reaching out as she got closer, she was about to knock when she realised she could partially see into the room already. The door had been left open a crack.

Davis drew up beside her, a frown on his face, and then he carefully pushed the door open. The office was empty, looking exactly as Kayli had seen it before except that Sephiroth was missing. She couldn't help feel disappointed by the sight and wonder where the man had gone without anyone knowing.

"Come on, what were the chances he'd actually be here anyway?" Jensen sighed quietly, folding his arms. "He's probably searching for the prisoner just like we should be."

"Well, the prisoner's not in this room." Kayli said with a sigh. A thought began to form in her mind as Davis spoke.

"I don't think the prisoner's on this floor. Why hide amongst SOLDIERs? He would've been found already."

"That's just it," Kayli murmured, walking into the office and over to Sephiroth's desk. It was bare save for a few papers. "All the SOLDIERs have left because of the emergency."

Davis and Jensen exchanged a nervous glance before looking out at the corridor suspiciously as if the prisoner was about to jump out at them.

"Did you hear that?" Davis suddenly whispered. Kayli instantly looked up at him, eyes wide as she waited for him to speak again and her ears doing their best to pick up any sounds, no matter how faint. The continuous alarm made that incredibly hard.

"It's coming from Commander Rhapsodos' office." Jensen replied also in a soft voice. Kayli took only one step towards them and then Davis turned to her with a stern expression, making her stop.

"Stay here." he ordered.

Kayli opened her mouth to complain but Davis and Jensen exited the room quickly, shutting the office door so she couldn't follow them. She knew Davis didn't want her getting hurt, but he didn't have the right to keep her from helping! She groaned in annoyance before turning back to Sephiroth's desk, deciding that if she stuck in here she may as well have a look around.

The papers lying there looked like regular paperwork – forms to fill out after being on a mission – except for one towards the left side of the desk. Kayli moved over to it, her curiosity getting the best of her, and picked it up.

It was the profile of an ex-SOLDIER, stating '2nd Class' at the top and 'DESERTER' in red letters right underneath. The picture shown of the man was vaguely familiar and reminded her of the Wutai soldiers, but she knew it hadn't been someone in the group that had captured her since his face wasn't that familiar. Then she read the name and her eyes widened.

'Sergei Molotov'.

Liam and his friends had spoken briefly of Sergei when they first caught her. He was the prisoner. Now he'd escaped and was somewhere in the building.

He was an ex-SOLDIER! They weren't just up against a Wutai soldier, this man had experience no other Wutaian had! She had to warn Davis and Jensen before something happened. If they found Sergei...

They wouldn't stand a chance.

Spinning around, she barely had time to take in what she was seeing before her instincts kicked in and she screamed, pushing out with her arms reflexively. No use – they were grabbed and held behind her back firmly so she couldn't run away.

"Found you," came the whisper in her ear.

She screamed again, feeling as though she was 9-years-old and trying to escape from the older brother who had just killed her twin. This situation was almost the same except this time Liam wasn't actively trying to kill her – yet – and Roy had been dead for years.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you," Liam said softly, pulling her closer to his body so he could hold her still more effectively. "We'll go to Wutai together and free it from oppression. Brother and sister fighting for the freedom of an entire nation!"

"No!" Kayli yelled, struggling as hard as she could to try and make him let go. She wasn't crying but knew she probably would start to soon. "I'm never going to join you!"

"Yes you are," Liam said quietly. "Because you love me."

"Let her go."

Kayli's eyes snapped up and a sob escaped her throat as she saw Sephiroth standing in the doorway. She stopped struggling and tried to breathe slowly to keep her tears at bay. She didn't want to cry in front of him and also knew that there was nothing to cry about now since Liam stood no chance against the General.

"I knew you'd come," Liam chuckled. "Now I can ask you what I've been wondering ever since you took Kayli away from me. What's so important about her that ShinRa would send you out to rescue her? Or did you make the decision to go yourself?"

"You think I was going to let the 1st ever possible female SOLDIER slip through my fingers?" Sephiroth asked.

"Still, what does she matter to you? You have so many other better male SOLDIERs." Liam pointed out.

"None with the commitment she has." Sephiroth countered.

"Well it doesn't matter anyway," Liam said, moving back slightly and taking Kayli with him. "You can't have her."

"Can't I?" Sephiroth asked as he raised one eyebrow. Only then did Kayli notice that he had his sword out and swallowed nervously. He hadn't raised it yet and she guessed it was because he didn't want to risk harming her.

Not that there was a possibility of that, though. He was the General. If anyone could control how their weapon moved, it was him.

"No," Liam smirked. "Because you won't try anything while I'm holding her."

"Then since you're still holding her, humour me for a moment," Sephiroth said. "Who is Roy?"

There was a pause and Kayli wondered what Sephiroth was playing at. Then Liam responded, "He was my brother."

"What happened to him?"

"I killed him."

Kayli shuddered and Liam's grip tightened slightly on her as if he was afraid she would try to use the distraction to break free.

"Deliberately?" Sephiroth enquired innocently.

"Yes. It was fun."

"How long ago?"

"I don't remember. But I can still see it in my mind as if it was yesterday... he screamed so much. Wouldn't stop begging for-"

"I don't wanna know. I don't wanna know!" Kayli screamed, thrashing once again as she tried to get away. Liam's grip had slackened in the time it had taken for him to begin recalling the murder of his brother and Kayli found one of her arms suddenly freed, instantly extending it as far as she could to try and grab hold of Sephiroth.

He was too far away for her to reach on her own, but he also reached forward and she was then able to grab his hand, holding as tightly as she could as she felt him pull her towards him.

"Stop it! You can't have her!" Liam cried out, his fingers bunching in Kayli's cadet uniform as he tried to keep her.

Kayli could feel her hand slipping from Sephiroth's and fought to free her other arm. It was firmly wedged between her side and Liam's own arm though and she couldn't move it more than an inch.

"She's my sister! You can't take her from me again!"

"Then I'll make this quick."

Kayli had no time to pause and wonder who had just spoken as she was suddenly released and found herself stumbling into Sephiroth. Her whole body was trembling and she grabbed his arms tightly to make herself feel more secure. She took a moment to get her breath back and then glanced over her shoulder.

Genesis stood above Liam's unconscious form, raising his rapier to deal the final blow.

Kayli turned back to Sephiroth and buried her face in his chest, sobs shaking through her body as she clung to the older man. He held her awkwardly for a moment before the anxious cries of her friends came from behind him.

Slowly turning, he allowed Davis to take Kayli from him and hug her comfortingly, drawing her away from the office slightly.

Sephiroth looked over in time to see Genesis wiping his sword and stepped further into the office, allowing the door to shut behind him.

"When did you get back?" he asked.

"This morning," Genesis replied, sheathing his weapon. "And it's a good thing too."

"What were you doing in my storage room?" Sephiroth asked as he folded his arms and glanced over at the still open door at the back corner of his office. It had taken a lot of self-control not to react when he'd seen his friend slowly step out of it moments ago.

Genesis smirked and reached to his back pocket, pulling out a copy of LOVELESS which he proudly displayed.

"Did you think I'd forgotten you took this off me before I left for Wutai?" he asked.

"One can only hope," Sephiroth sighed. "Besides, you've got about ten copies."

"You can never have too many copies of LOVELESS."

Scoffing, Sephiroth chose not to answer that and instead turned back to the door, opening it so he was able to keep an eye on the grunts. Davis was still hugging Kayli, who turned as the door opened and set her eyes on something beyond Sephiroth. It took him a moment to realise she was staring at the body of her dead brother.

Quickly stepping forward, Sephiroth demanded the grunts' attention by standing up straight and glaring down at them. He was pleased when Kayli looked up at him also as that had been his intention.

"Why was Peters left by himself in my office?" Sephiroth snapped angrily, referring to Kayli as a male again since he didn't think the other boy, Bailey, knew of her gender.

"It's my fault Sir," Davis said, his voice trembling. "I told him to stay there because I could hear voices coming from Commander Rhapsodos' office and thought the prisoner was hiding there. I didn't want him to get hurt and... well you know how that went."

"What did you say about Genesis' office?" Sephiroth asked, eyes narrowing.

"I... heard people talking," Davis said cautiously. "But when Jensen and I checked it out there was no one there."

Beckoning with his hand for Genesis to follow, Sephiroth put a hand on his sword and approached his friends office slowly, eyebrows drawn together. The door had been left open as Davis and Jensen came back to find Kayli with a Wutai soldier and Sephiroth gently pushed it open, eyes taking in everything he could see.

"Oh, very clever."

"This is why we don't send grunts on important missions," Genesis sighed from behind Sephiroth, pulling out his rapier.

Five Wutai soldiers dropped down from where they had been clinging to the ceiling and took fighting stances, weapons clenched tightly in their hands. Sergei was one of them, positioned in front of the others since he was obviously their leader.

Sephiroth eyed the foreign soldiers carefully, taking notice that Sergei was favouring his right arm and that it was soaked in blood. Two other soldiers – twins, by the looks of it – also had blood covering their arms.

"I guess now we know how he faked the blood trail," Genesis said with a hint of admiration in his voice. Sephiroth frowned at his friends comment, having not heard about the blood trail, before lunging and sweeping masamune out of its sheath in a quick slash.

The Wutaian men fought valiantly, manoeuvring skilfully out of the way of many blows from both Sephiroth and Genesis, but within the first minute one had fallen from a stab wound to the heart.

"ShinRa will not control Wutai forever!" Sergei yelled as he ducked Sephiroth's sword, cringing as masamune connected with the flesh of one his men instead of his own.

"Perhaps not," Sephiroth said, pulling his sword out of one of the twins' side and ignoring the screams of pain. "But you won't be the one to free it."

Sergei parried another blow from Sephiroth, doing his best to fight with the sword given to him by Orn and trying not to injure his arm any more than it already had been. His men were falling all around him – already Yakov, Orn and one of the twins were down and unmoving.

"For Wutai!" the last standing twin cried as he lunged at Genesis. Sergei stumbled against the wall, cornered by Sephiroth and distracted by the strangled gulping that told of his man's last moments.

Silence.

"Go on," Sergei taunted as Sephiroth stood before him, masamune raised but not striking. "Finish me off."

"No," Sephiroth said quietly, his body relaxing as he stepped back and lowered his sword. "I refuse."

"Then Wutai still has a chance to be freed by me," Sergei said smugly, fighting the urge to start coughing. He didn't want to show weakness now that there was a chance he could make it out alive.

"Wutai will never see you on its soil ever again."

"Seph?"

The General turned away from Sergei and walked over to the window at the back of the office, not responding to the quiet enquiry from his friend. Genesis waited only a moment before making his decision.

Sephiroth flinched, his grip on the windowsill tightening.

The inside of the cockpit was silent, save for the restless drumming of fingers on the primary joystick. A sigh escaped the mouth of the boy who sat in the pilot's seat, his eyes roaming over the terrain he could see through the windscreen.

He was wearing an old watch that he had fixed up so it worked perfectly and now he glanced down at it for the fourth time in the last fifteen minutes, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. It was three hours past the time he had been told to expect them back.

"Viki," Orn had said right before he and the other men left. "Nothing's going to go wrong, but if you're worried you can contact me on this. I promise I'll answer." He had shoved a phone in the boy's hand and smiled warmly, patting his shoulder and then leaving.

Viktor had held off calling for fear of interrupting and perhaps even blowing Orn's cover, although the desire to dial the number was continuously growing within him. He glanced over at where it lay on the other seat, his fingers speeding up as they still drummed on the joystick.

Five more minutes. If he still couldn't see them in five minutes then he'd call and find out what was going on.

It took all of his self-control to stay still in his seat as he watched the second-hand on his watch tick slowly past the numbers. Five minutes had never been so long and as soon as they were up he was scrambling for the phone and pressing the correct numbers, holding the phone to his ear.

Right before it had time to connect, he panicked and hung up. What if Orn was on his way out of the building and the phone call alerted some ShinRa soldiers to his presence? Could he risk it?

But it had been three hours...

Taking a deep breath, Viktor dialled the number a second time. Closing his eyes, he held it to his ear and waited. The call connected and began to ring, each one making the boy's heart pound a bit faster than before.

Voice mail. The automated recording telling him to leave a message broke his heart and his hands shook violently as his body curled inwards and he rested his head on his knees, his trousers soaking up the tears that started to fall as he sobbed.

What had gone wrong? Why wasn't Orn answering?

The beep signalled it was his turn to speak and he shakily wiped his sleeve across his nose, gripping the phone even tighter than before. Maybe... maybe Orn would get the message and call him back?

It was worth a try.

"Dad, w-where are you?"