(A/N) Now here's the Genesis point of view… So this chapter is longer than the last but shorter than usual ones. But I guess that's not a bad thing. Only this until it's back to Zack and Cloud then… Hmm… Nope, I won't tell. Mostly because I'm not sure I know. I have some options to sort out. But I'll try harder to update faster next time. Please enjoy it.

--

"Perhaps I should've eased up a bit." I mused as I walked along the dusty road. Maybe I should have, and I could have, but I didn't. I just shrugged. He was only a pawn of Sephiroth after all. And now as far as I knew he was dead. I didn't care if he weren't. It was just… I couldn't bring myself to kill him. He was way too pathetic. Too weak. There would be no point. But it was just so… confusing. I wanted to kill him. He was trying to destroy my shot at redemption. He… He… put Cloud in danger.

"Why do I care?" I asked myself. I didn't care. I didn't, I couldn't. He was almost insufferable. He was so fragile and meek. So weak! It was a pain to have to take care of him. I was only doing this because Angeal asked me to. If it were for any other reason I would be crazy! He was the dumb blonde that everyone fell for. The toy that everyone fought over. I mean come on! He was a play thing! That's all he was. And Zack and Sephiroth had been fighting over him since he'd shown up. It wasn't a very active fight. But it was a fight. And sure, Sephiroth had won it… and then ruined it. But, despite his seeming allowance of Zack's stepping in, there was always a bit of resentment.

And I swore I would kill myself if I ever got any sort of attachment to the very thing that caused my friends so much grief. How could I?! I… "Damn."

I'd spent too much time with him. He'd made me accept him and even give him a little respect. Now I had to deliberate over whether I hated myself or not. It was just, I thought Yazoo was pathetic but, Cloud was so helpless it was almost ridiculous. And I was pretty sure I hated of him but, all the same, I didn't want him to hate me. It was very strange, I couldn't explain it. I suppose it was easier to hate something when you didn't know or understand it. And ever since Sephiroth had started his obsession I'd hated that boy. He was something evil to me. Something of a threat. And now that I'd spent even this much time with the damn kid he was starting to work his little hooks into me. I couldn't get rid of the poison now that it was there.

"Stupid little siren." I growled. Something about him made me start to care. I'd hated him for so long and now? Now he was… cute. It was like he wasn't human. Like he had this power of attraction or something. A subconscious way of calling others to him. I wasn't attracted to him, but I was beginning to feel very protective of him. I was trapped now. There was no way for me to undo this. Dammit! He had me! It wasn't that bad, but still! It was a pride thing! Why didn't I think of this before I agreed to it? "Because I wanted to help Angeal…" I sighed. Stupid Angeal. He was another person who had a strange power. All he had to do was ask someone to do something and they'd do it! It was like you just didn't want to disappoint him.

But that was more like if you didn't do what he asked, he'd give you The Look. I never liked getting that look. That was something that was quite common in mothers. Whatever Cloud had going on wasn't like The Look. It was just annoying. Something that made me glad that he wasn't here right now and hopefully I wouldn't have to deal with him for a while. He was just too…

"Bleh!" I spat. He was way too sweet. Sickeningly sweet.

As I'd said, he wasn't my type or anyone I would have chosen to associate with. He also wasn't the type Angeal and I had thought was Sephiroth's. Then again, before he showed up Sephiroth didn't really have a type. "You think you know a guy…" I sighed. I thought I knew a great, powerful General, and then I found that he liked to play with 'dolls'. Or should I say puppets? I'd expected it from Zack, but Sephiroth? It was kind of strange. You couldn't really blame me. Cloud acted as a fast spreading poison that quickly infected everybody around me. Turning most of them into slack-jawed idiots whenever he passed by. It didn't matter what he was doing. They always did it. Whenever they did all I could do was stand there and roll my eyes.

Now I found myself defending him and fighting off everyone who meant to bring harm to him. How hypocritical. After all, I'd wanted to hurt him so many times before. I didn't think I actually had the gall to do it, but sometimes he just made me so mad. I used to see him running through the halls being chased by several others boys and had thoughts of joining them. Of course I was only kidding myself. I knew it was my duty to break up any fights I saw, or to protect wimpy cadets to avoid lawsuits. I was supposed to set an example… or something like that. What a great job I did. I'd seen him getting chased at least six times before I left and simply turned the other way. It's a good thing he never took notice of me. I had no idea what I'd do if he'd actually asked me to help him. Most likely I'd do it… but grudgingly. Whatever. That wasn't the case anymore. It wasn't a problem I needed to deal with.

What I needed to do was find some information, I just needed a full handle on the situation. I needed to see something close to what Sephiroth had read. That way I could get an understanding on what he thought to be true. I couldn't be sure if it was worth it to go check the Nibelheim mansion and see if those records he'd found were still there. But I had to try. After all, one should try to get as much information as possible in order to think of a clear solution. Otherwise there was a greater possibility for mistakes. And this was a very serious operation, mistakes weren't an option. I had to either make Sephiroth snap out of this, which was highly unlikely, or bring him down. And preferably he'd stay down.

"As if!" He was stubborn and kept on coming back. Quite possibly he'd only stay dead if he took Cloud with him. I couldn't tell which objective he cared about more. But I wasn't willing to test it.

I looked out on the horizon and observed that I could see the mountains that would eventually give way to the village behind them. It was probably a good idea to start flying at this point. I didn't want the villagers to see me, not right away at least. It would be nice to gain a bit of perspective on how fast news of my appearance had spread from the Gold Saucer. But at the same time I didn't want to risk more people finding out about who wouldn't have known otherwise. Not that there was much anyone could do. They were all too afraid of me. So. Even though I was alive… past mistakes had made it so that I had nowhere that I belonged really. I was without kith or kin, so to speak. Not the best existence but, as long as I could help others, I would go on. My mind was unclouded, I could see clearly for the first time since I can't even remember when. Now I wanted to help Sephiroth do the same. But I wasn't sure if I could. He was mentally unstable. And he had been for a while. Even when I knew him as the General his mind was a bit delicate. Always tinkering on the brink. People had to be careful when talking to him on certain subjects. Not that many people did. Not even me. "Whatever." I sighed as I allowed the wing to spread from my back and took off into the sky.

My eyes scanned the ground below as I sailed through the air. I watched the landscape fly by. The occasional monster running through the plains. Flying into the mountains. How lucky they must be to have such simplistic lives. All their thoughts were purely on instinct. After all of this it would seem like a half life but still better than this. Complex thought could easily be troubling. And very easily screw up your life. As it turned out, so could reading. Especially if the thing you're reading is false and or you're mentally unstable. This time I would be talking more about myself than Sephiroth. I didn't even read falsified records. I read an epic poem and lost my mind. I didn't really feel too good about that. I suppose what the scientists should've learned from that is that SOLDIERs really shouldn't be allowed to read. At all. I figured they'd know that it's better to keep the pawns stupid anyway. Or whatever chess pieces we were. I wasn't all that familiar with the game. All I knew was that pawn was the lowest so… perhaps the people in the army were the pawns and the SOLDIERs were the knights? I think those were the odd pieces that moved in the odd hook way. Pretty useful in odd circumstances, to get pieces in odd places. Yeah… knights. Since knights weren't exactly model characters either. Chivalry was a bit of a fantasy. Some of the knights were actually good men, like Fair. But most of them were creeps… like me.

"Ah!" I gasped when I saw a helicopter taking off out of the town below. It had the Shinra insignia on the door. That meant it was what was left of the Turks. Them seeing me, let alone getting chopped to bits by the blades were both really bad things. On the one hand I could face serious injury or even death. On the other they'd probably try to arrest me. This was going to be tricky.

I tried my best to pull upward, which was a bit harder to do, but the blades on the helicopter were pulling me down. So I flapped my wing a bit more rapidly and used my arms to try and swim upward. It was working a little at a time, but I wouldn't be able to keep it up. The helicopter was rising too fast. I summoned my rapier and brought my arms in close to my body. The whole while gripping the sword as tightly as I could. After a moment I flung my arms outward and flailed around a bit in order to get myself spiraling; holding the sword outward for more momentum. As I'd hoped, despite it being a stretch, I went spinning away from the helicopter and towards the forest surrounding the village. There was no use for the sword anymore. I was a safe distance from the helicopter now. So I glided down so that I was in amongst the trees. Evading branches and trunks, breaking several twigs as I went.

I couldn't help but notice that the pilot had seen me. At least I was pretty sure he had. He looked right at me. His jaw even dropped. Hopefully he would assume that it was a hallucination or something. If he didn't, I doubted anyone would believe him.

The forest was thinning out the further I went. I could now see the craggy hillside that concealed the mansion. All it took was a quick avoidance and then alighting down behind the gate.

--

Once inside I could hardly breath. Just opening the door caused so much dust to fly up that I had to hide my face in the crook of my arm. Despite the dust, this place was in pretty good shape. The wood was slightly worn; as though some monsters had been using the walls as scratching posts. The curtains and furniture were faded from the constant sunlight flooding in through the windows. I sidestepped out of the dust particles and walked around, investigating how much of the manor was open. I quickly learned that quite a few of the doors were locked. Hopefully the basement wasn't locked. If it was I think I'd just break the door down. There were alternate ways of getting into the basement… but I think it'd be much easier just to wreck this place rather than going through all of that.

"Where is the basement?" I pondered looking around. It wasn't anywhere on the ground floor… odd. But all these doors were locked. "I guess that means I have to go upstairs." I sighed.

'Clack! Clack! Clack!' I spun around on my heels to look at the stairs. Something round was rolling down them. I watched it bounce down the stairs and ghost across the floor until it bumped into the front door and stopped after rebounding off the wood and hitting the door again. That was really weird. I walked over and knelt down to look at it. It looked like a piece of red materia. But I didn't sense any presence or power coming from it. Typically this would be a summon materia, but it felt as though the power had been drained from it. But that wasn't really the issue here. Somebody must've kicked this down the stairs. That meant there was someone else in here. I pocketed the materia and looked up.

I narrowed my eyes and glanced back at the stairs. There wasn't anything there. Still, I probably should be on my guard for a while. What was baffling was that there was so much dust on the floor that I was leaving footprints. But when I walked in there were none. So how did someone else get in here? Unless they got in through the sewer… hmm… We'll see.

The stairs made a low grumble of a creak as I walked up. The second floor was just about as dusty as before. And now I could see footprints. They were everywhere. I took a left from the top of the steps and looked at the collection of doors at the end of the hall. There were three of them. I took a few steps, the whole time glancing behind me. There was no way I was going to get jumped from behind. That would be way too embarrassing. I used to be a first class. What was more irritating was the first door I opened may as well have been locked because there was nothing inside. Just some beds, an empty desk, and a wardrobe. However, the wardrobe had nothing inside. There was a patch in it where the layer of dust was thinner. Square shaped with some thick lines leading to it. Someone must've picked it up. "Oh…" Never mind. It was a stretch, but I could guess what it was.

The next door was locked. I peeked inside the keyhole and instantly backed away. Just getting that close allowed me to smell the stench coming from inside. Why the hell were a bunch of rotten apples in there?! Augh! Disgusting! There was no point in going in there.

The last door wasn't locked. But it was a dead end as well. There was a shred of paper on the floor but it looked as though it would disintegrate if I touched it. So I ignored it. Otherwise the only interesting thing in the room was a safe. An already open, empty safe. There were books in here, but some were destroyed or just not worth taking the time to read. So I moved on. The entrance to the basement must've been on the other end of the hall. Which was where I was headed.

The task was relatively easy. However, I thought I heard more noises. Coming from ahead of me. I ran towards the source of the sound and went through the door on the right. That led to a somewhat empty room with another door. "Damn!" I hissed when I found that the door was locked. Annoyance quickly turned to frustration when I heard more noises coming from behind the door. I turned around and tried to think of a different way inside, but rational thoughts dissipated when I identified sound as laughter.

I spun around and blasted the door with a thunder spell. Splinters went scattering everywhere. I leapt forward into the room and looked around for the person who had been in there. My eyes narrowed into a glare when there was no one. The basement door was even open. And since there was no sign of broken glass and no windows were open, the basement was the only place they could've gone. So, naturally, I walked down into the dark depths. The sound of the door closing behind me made me panic slightly, but I wouldn't let it show. I didn't need to go out through the door. I would just use the sewer. No big deal. It wasn't like it was something I couldn't handle. The most that was down there was a handful of Sahagins. Nothing to worry about.

But it wouldn't be stupid to be cautious as I walked down into the badly lit underground of the manor. Which for the first few levels of it there were one or two ladders and plenty of opened treasure chests. This was ridiculous, there was no way they could've gotten this far ahead of me. Perhaps I scared them a little too much when I destroyed the door. My heart jolted when the lights flickered. Perhaps the electricity was finally going or whoever else was down here was trying to get back at me for scaring them. It wouldn't work. I wasn't going to be scared by this. It was just some faulty wiring. Of course it didn't really help that this place kind of creeped me out. It was filled with the screams of Hojo's victims. Nothing about this place was good.

My pace quickened when I reached the area where the coffins were kept. Just knowing that made me feel worse, but it meant I was close to the lab and the library within. The progression stopped when I saw that my pocket was glowing. I took the materia out of my pocket and stared at as it sat in the palm of my hand. The glow intensified but then fizzled, that was weird. Not only that but I noticed that it had gotten even quieter after that. I re-pocketed the materia and looked around. Accidently letting out a yelp when something hit the back of my foot. The dim glow of this level of the basement didn't really let me see what it was.

I knelt down to get a closer look. And I couldn't believe it. It was what appeared to be another piece of materia. But not like one I'd ever seen before. However, this one had some power to it. But before I could pick it up it released what it was holding. I tumbled out of the way when a beam of light shot outward, but then stopped. It became an image, something like a hologram. A transparent image of Sephiroth. What the hell? That wasn't something you saw everyday.

"Hello, Genesis." The image sighed.

"Wow, even an image of you sounds conceited." I answered. Even though it couldn't answer back. But that's what made it fun.

"It comes down to this. You are a danger to my plans, I'm all too aware of this. But instead of simply killing you I've decided to give you a fair chance to change."

I suppose I should listen to this ridiculous thing. Not that I was worried about dying. It would just be good for a laugh. Mostly I just wanted to know how this thing got down here. I mean, I already decided to disregard it. He was going to give me a chance to change? He needed to change. Not me. I'd already changed, many times. And I think I'd finally turned out just fine.

"Why kill you when you could be a great help to me?"

"True." I said folding my arms across my chest as though I'd been insulted.

"I want you to join me, old friend." Oh gee, surprise, surprise. All I could do was roll my eyes. "Your life will be spared and you will be my equal. Free to do as you please."

"I'm listening." I said as though it would answer, again.

"But I won't tolerate spies or betrayal. I'll need proof of your loyalty."

"There's the catch." I sighed.

"All I ask is that you capture Cloud and bring him to me."

I started to laugh but stopped short. Perhaps I should give him his little puppet. It would free Zack from his spell and bring Sephiroth out of this tantrum he was having. "What am I doing?" I mumbled. I shouldn't even be considering this. It wasn't right. Still, maybe it would be better for everyone…

"That is your only option. If you comply, you will be given time to complete your mission. If you deny my offer you will be destroyed. Immediately." He gave me a rather threatening look and then faded out.

Even though he was no longer there I averted my eyes. I felt really guilty that I had to even think about this. But it seemed like a really generous offer. All I had to do was give him the little crybaby. But… I… I knew it was wrong. And that fact was taken even further when I tried to think of how well that would go over for me. Sure, Sephiroth would probably be grateful. But everyone else? Zack would hate me; as well as all of the blonde's other friends. Heck, I'd hate myself. Especially when I'd quite possibly end up seeing Cloud, a very unhappy boy, everyday. He'd be such a tortured soul. Evidence of it would be in his eyes. He'd probably even have injuries from being thrown around by Sephiroth.

"No!" I shouted. "No, no, no!" I couldn't be responsible for that. I couldn't help it. I was under his spell. I already knew it. He had me! I couldn't do anything to hurt him. "I won't!" I stepped on the sphere that had created the image and pressed until it shattered. "Rot!"

After that the lights went out. Every inch of the place was covered in darkness. That was way too convenient to be a coincidence.

"Ah!" I growled when a rock collided with the back of my head. And then another came from a different direction hitting me on my left upper arm. I was being attacked! From all directions it seemed and I couldn't defend myself. I couldn't see. Soon the laughter came back. They must've been someone working for Sephiroth. Dammit! It was obvious that they could see. All I could do was try and look in the direction the rock was coming from. But I never even caught a glimpse of anything.

"Your heart plays a lovely tune when you're frightened." My attacker announced. Ignoring the remark, I turned around and searched. Still nothing. Only more laughter. Who was this guy and why did they find this so funny. There was nothing funny about it.

"Show yourself!" I demanded. This was starting to piss me off.

"Aw… why would I do that? You're cuter like this."

Okay. This little prick was really annoying me. Not only because he was being very cowardly, but he was hitting on me. I was about to tell him to shut his trap when a considerably larger rock hit the side of my head. I could feel my consciousness slipping away, but I couldn't stop it. All I could do… was… submit…

--

I awoke in a daze. Now I knew how Cloud felt. The resulting bruise that was forming was going to be anything but fun. But that wasn't the only thing that irked me. The lights were back on and I could clearly see a young man straddling my hips. He had Sephiroth's eyes, short silver hair, and grown out bangs pushed to the side. "What are you doing you little creep?!"

"Giving you another chance to change your mind." He said running his hands up my waist and across my chest. I flinched at the touch. The wonderful yet unwanted touch. My eyes were beginning to close, even when my mind was screaming at me to kick this little prick off of me, my body was desperate for physical contact of any kind. Little bastard. Quit trying to win me over sensually! The haze cleared slightly when I felt him grip my wrists.

"Would you just get off me!" I growled.

"Whhyyy?" He whined. "Just join Nii-San. I want you." I snorted and tried to throw him off. As expected, he tightened his grip. Not that it was too strong, but I just didn't feel quite up to it yet. Perhaps I could avoid a fight. Pfft! wasn't that wishful thinking? "I like you, Mr. Gorgeous." O-kay! This was on the brink of mentally scarring. I was pushed over the edge when he leaned in really close and pressed his lips against mine.

"Mmph!" I was appalled. So much so that when he broke the kiss my jaw dropped. I was a bit disturbed when I saw him try to go for another. "Why you little!" I brought my knees up as an alternative to kicking his ass. Which caused him to fall forward, release my wrists, and… unfortunately… he caught my lips with his for a second time before I threw him off. Needless to say I was outraged and flustered when I got to my feet. He was just rolling around on the ground, hysterical with laughter. "What's so funny?"

"You!" He said gasping for air. "I can't believe you let me get you. Twice!"

My face went a bit red, but I couldn't help it. "Whatever! Get up!"

"Want another?" He asked slowly standing. I just grimaced while reliving it. That was certainly humiliating. Hopefully no one found out about it. "C'mon. Come back with me. I want to keep you." He pouted.

"No. And no way!" I answered.

"No way what?" He asked. Pretending to be innocent.

"I won't do that to Cloud and… Seriously. I'd totally top you." I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"So?" He replied unsheathing a double-bladed sword. If that's the way he wanted to do it, fine. I wanted to kill him for having the gall to steal a kiss from me anyway. I summoned my rapier for the second time in one day. A rare occurrence nowadays.

"You're not going to beat me, kid." I said making the first move with a vertical slice. He dodged that pretty easily. Not much of a surprise. So I tried slashing the air twice, making an 'X' pattern. And even though he jumped back to avoid it, I guess he didn't know that even though he'd dodged the initial strike there were still two waves of force to watch out for. It was a direct hit and certainly made quick work of him. "Just give up. Spare yourself the pain and humiliation." He didn't respond to that. He just got back on his feet from being flung against the far wall. "Come on. I don't want to deal with this. Just turn around and leave. You can't possibly even hope to defeat me."

"I don't want to defeat you. I want you to come back with me."

"Ugh… why?" I groaned. "I've already established where my allegiance lies."

"Well then change it." He said in a commanding tone. Of course it sounded a little bratty as well; making it impossible for me to take this seriously. "Nii-San saw how you handled Yazoo. He wants you to join him. He doesn't like how the traitors have pulled you in with their lies!"

"I'm not doing it because of that." I sighed. Although I couldn't understand why I was explaining myself to this kid. "The issue I am concerned with is solely Cloud. I couldn't care less about 'mother'. I already have a mother. She may be gone, because of me, and she may have been a… less than reputable character, but I was not and am not looking for a replacement." He looked as though he'd been shot, but I didn't care. This kid had gotten on my bad side. I mean, my first impression of him was pretty much being molested. It wasn't that bad. But I didn't initiate it so, I could admit it, my pride was hurt. "I would never allow myself to be coerced into doing that alien monster's bidding."

"Shut up! You can't about mother that way!"

"I can talk about 'mother' however I please. After all, I was the one who told 'Nii-San' about mother." Geez. He didn't know much about the situation. "You're just an ignorant puppet, aren't you? Never know anything; always do as your told. Well right now I'm telling you to get a life."

"Stop it!" He shouted while rushing at me; sword ready to strike. I blocked it and brushed him off with ease. He was so pathetic. I couldn't help but feel kind of sorry for him. He didn't really get a chance at a different life. Not that it was possible. He wouldn't even exist if it weren't for Sephiroth. I had to guess he was the remnant I hadn't yet seen. Kadaj was his name I think. And being a remnant, he was part of Sephiroth. And therefore, he knew nothing se for Sephiroth's madness. I wasn't sure if I could turn him from it. It would be a slim chance. But if Sephiroth had a bit of himself left… then… maybe these guys did too? I continued to think about it as I blocked several more hits from Kadaj. His range was short, in comparison to myself he was moving at the speed of a normal human, and he was angry. He didn't stand a chance. But the rage didn't seem to let him realize that fact. He just kept on going for a killing blow. And every time I'd simply block it and knock him over.

On and on. Just humoring him until, eventually, I got bored. I blocked the attack, locked his blade with mine, spun my sword until his wrist gave and he dropped his, and then kicked him as hard as I could. He hit the wall again and then crumpled to the ground. There wasn't a move out of him after that. I shook my head and sighed. Stupid little fool. He'd been trying to get me angry. And it worked. But I suppose he didn't know that I don't make mistakes like that when I'm angry, not anymore. I simply turn it on the other person. And boy does it work. He was, by far, one of the easiest people to manipulate though. All you had to do was trash talk his 'mommy'. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Who could be so childish that they'd lose it over their mother? Now I was right back to being insulted. Sephiroth sent this guy after me?!

"I don't have time for this." I murmured walking up and checking for a pulse. It was there. He was knocked out but alive. So, at first, I decided to leave him there. But about halfway down the corridor guilt got the best of me and I went back for him. However, I wasn't going to treat him well. So I just carried him under my arm, which was wrapped around his waist.

With the lights on, I could see that the lab was close. I had to wonder what kind of activities went on down here. If the company was so keen on cover-ups, why did they conduct experiments down in an underground cavern? As soon as I walked through the door I set Kadaj down by the wall. "Pain in the ass." I grumbled as I stepped closer to the lab table in the center of the room. All of the papers strewn about were no longer legible so there was no point in trying to read… those… wait. "Hey, look at that. Someone has actually heard of a typed document." I said picking it up. It read,

Analysis of Procedural Failure:

Failed Case #1: SOLDIER 1st Class

Summary: Desired effect did not occur. Strong tolerance to Jenova cells due to SOLDIER conditioning assessed as cause.

Failed Case #2: Shinra Infantryman

Summary: Weak tolerance to Jenova cells led to toxicosis. Lack of response to outside stimuli suggests severe system damage. Recovery highly unlikely.

"Wow, this is really old." This thing was talking about Zack and Cloud. At least I think it was. How many other firsts did they experiment on with no success? Besides, these summaries sounded like Hojo. Cold, uncaring, and showing evidence of sickness to the head.

This place was just eerie. I almost hated to look around at it. All the cobwebs, the dust, the broken mako tanks. It really made your skin crawl. Or perhaps I was still stuck on something else. Such as, just what kind of outside stimuli was Hojo referring to? It was probably just my own sick mind twisting something purely scientific into… something… else. Then again, he probably did do it. He was a sick old man after all. "Why am I even thinking about it?" I asked myself as I shook my head. There was no point standing around here looking at broken glass and thinking about really disgusting things. Of course thinking about Hojo at all was disgusting. Everyone wonders, I'll just say it. How could Sephiroth have such an ugly father? It didn't make any sense. Let us hope he just takes after his mother… who would be…? Hmm…

With the full intention of figuring that out, I strode over to the small library that held the records. And surprisingly enough, the door was in good shape. If I had gotten pissed off about something, I'd just take it out on the door. Perhaps if he had then he wouldn't have burned down the village. Holding it in until it burst was never a good idea.

Or was that even the reason? I didn't really know why he'd done it. Maybe I should try to figure that out too. It was annoying being the person involved with no idea of what was going on. What was that called? "Uh…" Oh yeah. They were called kuki yomenai a.k.a. KY. I wasn't one of those exactly, but I was too close for comfort. I hated those, I didn't want to become one. I opened the door and stepped inside without hesitation. I mean, how creepy can a library be?

Giving it some thought, a library could be very creepy. But this one? Not so much. The most unnerving things were the random books on the floor. I reached for a book but as soon as I did I heard Kadaj stir outside. I'd almost forgotten about him. I couldn't just leave him like that. Reading all of this would take a while and it would be very irritating if he woke up while I was trying to do so. "What to do?" I said walking out and staring at him. I bit my lower lip when I thought of just about the only thing I could. But it seemed a bit too much. And yet… "I guess I don't really have an alternative."

I hoisted him up and dragged him across the room. He started to wake up so there was no time left to consider anything else. I opened the hatch on one of the working mako tanks and dropped him inside. He woke up just as I was shutting him in. "Hey!" He shouted.

"What?" I asked locking the door.

"Don't put me in here! Let me out!"

"Nope." I answered bluntly. He looked really upset but whatever. "It's what you get for picking a fight with me." I shrugged. "Not to mention kissing me without my permission."

"Oh, come on! I'll suffocate!"

"No you won't. You'll starve before you suffocate." I glared. "Now shut up or I'll fill it."

That did it. He snapped his mouth shut and didn't complain when I walked away. Hopefully treating him like this would make him get over his little whatever it was he had. It was just plain weird. And I didn't even know if he meant it. I would just prefer that he hate me rather than… that. So I put him out of my mind and went back to the library.

--

A good two or three days later, and after a lot of skimming, page after page. I kind of understood. At this point, I wasn't sure if I could understand. I figured that it wasn't supposed to make sense at first, so I kept on reading. But none of it was reaching me. How did Sephiroth lose his mind over this? "I guess I'll never understand him." I sighed. But standing around here and trying to make sense of this drivel wasn't going to help me or anyone else. I almost couldn't believe that I'd spent days reading this stuff. Perhaps it was just because I'd already known some things about Jenova that these records didn't even address. For the most part, they didn't tell you that she was an alien monster bent on death and destruction.

I took the current book I had been reading and walked out to the mako tanks. Kadaj was slumped over inside but he was still breathing. I couldn't believe he thought he would suffocate. These things had ventilation… options.

"Yo." I said knocking on the glass. He got to his feet, for some reason in a good mood. I ignored it and pressed the open book up against the glass. "Read this." He looked confused but he did it. Perhaps I could use him to try and understand why Sephiroth believed this crap. This was all bull. They'd taken facts and flipped them so everything was all backwards. Jenova wasn't a Cetra. She killed the Cetra.

"Why show me this?" Kadaj asked, voice muffled through the thick glass. "It's all stuff I already know."

"It's all lies." I smirked. His expression turned to anger. "Jenova's no Cetra. She's a calamity." I was pushing his limits and I knew it. But I wanted him to hate me. So I'd continue to pick on him and be as sadistic as I could as long as he was around. He was being really difficult about it anyway. No matter what I did he always warmed back up to me. I didn't like it. Cloud was hard enough to push away, but this guy? Cloud I just couldn't push away because of his whole borderline hypnosis thing, plus I had to guard him, but Kadaj shouldn't feel a need to be attached to me. I didn't even know him. And these past few days I'd treated him like crap. But he still smiled whenever I approached. I couldn't let him or anyone else get too attached to me. I didn't want any attachments. The only people I ever let that close were Angeal and Sephiroth. And both of them betrayed me. So…

"Why should I believe you?"

"I'm not asking you to. I'm just telling you. You can it take as the truth or… well… you get the point. If I told you I wasn't lying you still wouldn't believe me because you've already pitted me as untrustworthy anyway. Which is just fine." And stubborn. One of the big things that was annoying about these guys. They all refused to believe what others told them if they'd already decided something was true. Judging the remnants off of Sephiroth's basis, of course. "Anyway…" I sighed. "I'm done here." I pulled the hatch open and stepped back to let him out. I guess he didn't expect that because he had a look of shock and confusion. "Just get out."

"You're letting me go?"

"What does it look like?" I rolled my eyes. He cautiously stepped out of the tank, the whole time keeping an eye on me. As if he had to do that… oh wait, he did.

"You're not going to attack me?"

"No. Not if you don't attack me." I replied shooing him away. But he didn't leave. What did he expect? He wasn't going to attack. I wasn't going to attack. And I didn't want him around anymore.

"Is there any food?"

"Nope. No food. Not that I'd feed you. Now go on, you're on your own." He stayed where he was. "Fine." I grumbled. He obviously wanted me to leave first. So I did. I walked right past him and headed out down towards the sewers. I hadn't forgotten that he'd locked the basement door. And I didn't really feel like blowing anything up today. Not that it was a good idea to take that course of action in the first place. But, hey, it was fun.

"What have you been eating?!" He called after me.

I stopped but I didn't turn around. Geez! Why were people so concerned with what I was eating? "I haven't been eating. Okay?" He was acting more and more like Cloud. For what reason? I didn't know. All I was sure of was that it was annoying. People needed to stop caring about me. It wouldn't do them any good. So I left before he could say anything else. And for all I knew, he was still standing there. "Whatever." I didn't care. Weird kid. He wasn't my problem, he was just the kid who had mentally scarred me. And that was all he was ever going to be.

So I shrugged it all off as best I could. Even though it wasn't really working. And I jumped down into the murky water. The splash sounded far down the tunnel way and started to come back. That meant that this sewer was a bit more complex than I'd previously thought. Oh well. Even harder for that weirdo to try and follow. I really hoped he didn't. If he did I'd just have to lose him, get out, and head for Neo Shinra. That's where I would make some sense of all of this.

--

(A/N) Holy crap Kadaj! Where did that come from?! Please don't blame me for how weird this chapter turned out. I didn't exactly plan it like this. At least Zack and Cloud are back next chapter… right? Heheh. Okay I'll get out of your hair and start writing now.