Disclaimer: FFVII is owned by Square Enix and the Author makes no money from this work.
A/N: If any of you are able to write flawlessly through one draft I hate you. This entire chapter is made up of the bits of gold in my various shitty drafts.
As a side note, apparently the key to getting a lot of reviews is to mention a book somewhere in my writing. The amount I received was miraculous. This site needs to get spoiler tags so I don't spoil any more endings for more people. Sorry if I did already.
Tseng eyed his usual spot and sighed. It was the fourth flower he had found this week with a note that said in neat letters "to your friend".
He was supposed to have brought Aerith in nearly two years ago, but she was working in that run down church. He'd watched her tear up floorboards to get to the dirt underneath. He'd watched as green slowly spread where no life should have been possible. He'd watched as the green turned into impossible blooms. And he had watched Aerith grow up and kept her a secret.
And now she was leaving gifts. Not for him of course, but for his friend. He often wondered if the girl knew, if she knew exactly who Cass was in respect to her. Right now the girl was pointedly ignoring him and tending her makeshift garden.
He knew that she knew he was there though. So why pretend anymore?
"She's not going to take it," he said. Aerith didn't even bother to turn.
"How do you know if you don't try?" she replied.
"You want how much?" Angeal asked. Cass didn't even halt. Angeal was more than a little concerned about how well she puttered about with those needles.
"Think of it like this," Cass said, "It's enough to make you a little woozy, but you'll perk back up with a little apple juice."
"That doesn't make me feel better," Angeal said.
"Then like this," Cass said, "The more I take the more tests I can run."
"I'm not even sure that the mako spike means anything," Angeal argued, "Are you sure all this is necessary?"
"No," Cass said, "but I like to be certain. Quit being such a baby."
"I don't have to like needles," Angeal pointed out.
"And if you listened to Sephiroth and Genesis you would know that it doesn't hurt when I wield the injection," Cass said, "Man up." Angeal offered his arm up with a scowl and Cass handed him a stress ball.
"Squeeze it so I can find a vein," she said.
"What are you testing it for?" Angeal asked.
"I'm comparing it to Genesis's," Cass replied, "Hollander used a random sample, probably some unaltered employee. It wouldn't show mako effects. You, however, are enhanced." Angeal grunted.
"And you want to see if I'm moving in the same direction," he added.
"I hope that is not the case," Cass replied, "relax."
"I am relaxed," Angeal said.
"Stop squeezing the ball dumbass," Cass said. Angeal did so with a half-hearted glare.
"Angeal?" Angeal jerked up at the sound of the new voice.
"Zack what are you doing here?" Angeal asked.
"They said I could find you down here," Zack Fair replied, "What's going on?"
"He was erm...'volunteered' as a blood donor," Cass replied. Angeal rolled his eyes, but was grateful that the lie got Zack to relax.
"Oh," Zack said.
"Angeal if you don't relax your fucking arm I will punch you in the solar plexus," Cass said, "You might be a SOLDIER, but that still hurts and you know it." Zack's eyes got big and excited and Angeal couldn't blame him. Cass was still a slender woman and a bully to boot. Worse still, she knew it. If it had been anyone else, Sephiroth for example, he would have found it hilarious.
"I'd like to see you try," Angeal challenged.
"If you block me I know of a much more painful area to hit," she replied. Zack bravely held back a laugh, but the red tint to his face was a giveaway. Angeal sighed and did as she asked.
"Thank you," she said, "now you can either be a wuss and look away or a sicko and watch me slide this needle into your arm."
"It's amazing how you can make either option sound awful," Angeal said drily while looking directly at her face. He felt a mild burning sensation and...well that was it. He had to look down as she started taping tubes down to make sure she actually had put a needle in his arm.
"Holy shit," he murmured.
"I told you," she said.
"Where did you learn that?" Angeal asked.
"Years of practice," Cass said, "and an utterly wonderful woman named Rhonda. She was head nurse back in the day. She was also around ninety, or at least looked like it. Squeeze every few seconds, or whenever you remember to."
"So...you two know each other?" Zack asked.
"Yes Zack," Angeal said, "This is Cass, she works closely with SOLDIER from time to time." Zack seemed to have taken in her attire for the first time.
"You're a Turk," he said, then smiled sheepishly.
"Yup," Cass said, "I've also known Angeal since he was sixteen so if you ever want embarrassing stories-"
"Cass no," Angeal said.
"You're stuck with a needle in your arm and you can't stop me," Cass said.
"Like what?" Zack asked. Cass decided immediately that she liked Zack at that very moment.
"Well there was this one time-"
"Cass no," Angeal said again.
"He got into this drinking contest-"
"Cass I will do anything if you do not finish this story," Angeal said. Zack's grin was getting wider and wider.
"Which he won, by the way," Cass continued, "but, one does not drink three bottles of-"
"Please don't," Angeal said, eyeing the needle, wondering how much it would hurt if he took it out himself. Cass took a big step back reading his thoughts, but not slowing in the least.
"So he was pretty wasted," she paused, "What kind of drunk do you think Angeal is?"
"Happy," Zack said without pause.
"Ooh you're good," Cass said.
"Cass please don't," Angeal said, Cass spared him a glance and frowned.
"Damn you're a quick bleeder," she said.
"Wait, that's it?" Zack said.
"No," Cass said, "now you get to hear the end of that story from the man himself. He's heard enough about it to know how it ends."
"Take this out," Angeal said gruffly.
"Spoiler alert, he sang 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'. Quite beautifully I might add," Cass said quickly.
"I hate you," Angeal said.
"And I love you too," Cass said pulling out the needle with as much pain as going in, to Angeal's mild awe.
"You're free to go," Cass said, "I'm done with you." Angeal got off the chair slowly, starting to feel the blood loss.
"Remember: apple juice," Cass said, "and I recommend no running or heavy lifting either."
"So...I'll see you around later?" Zack said.
"Sure," Cass said offhandedly. She watched Zack bounce around Angeal's currently stiff form as they departed. By the time the door shut she detected a slight relaxation of the shoulder muscles on Angeal's part and chuckled. She pulled out her PHS.
"Reno?" she said, "how much do I have to bribe you to get you to help me steal some stuff from the labs?"
Rufus didn't think anything at all was off until he saw Cass reading the paper. She read newspapers when she suspected something and if anyone were to find out...it would be her. He hoped she was reading the comics, or doing the sudoku puzzle in her head again.
"I thought you would be out trying to cover up the defection," Rufus said.
"Mmm," she murmured in reply.
"I thought you knew him," Rufus said. She peered up at him.
"I guess it shows how you can't predict these sort of things," Rufus said.
"Like how I didn't predict you siphoning money to some location down in the slums," Cass said, folding her paper. Rufus paled, but stood his ground.
"How long have you known?" he asked. She tossed a file at him, a neatly compiled report ready for reading.
"I thought I had taught you better than that," Cass said, "at the very least you could have made an effort to hide it."
"I did-"
"This is sloppy," Cass said, "It's only a matter of time before someone else stumbles across it and follows the trail back up to you. What makes this worse is that they have killed employees, more than one Rufus. You've got fifteen seconds to come up with a pretty damn good reason for me to cover your ass because if you get caught then my life is in the shitter. You'll just be locked up somewhere until the fatass dies."
"You've been a double agent for Wutai," Rufus started.
"This isn't about me," Cass said, "and unless you have solid proof, of which there is none, then you can't blackmail me. They were SOLDIERs. If you want me to lie to my son-"
"I want him to die faster!" Rufus barked, "and I can't do it myself."
Cass wondered when she decided to get so involved in all this shit. Covering Rufus's ass, trying to find/help Genesis and perhaps Angeal, and keeping everyone else in the dark about it. Even Sephiroth. He was already on his way to Wutai to try and find Genesis. It wouldn't do to let him worry.
At least her remodeling was done.
Reno had been scared shitless, but Cass had the dirtiest dirt imaginable on him and he bought her silence by helping her steal equipment from Hojo's domain. Judging by the amount of dust on what she had taken, it wouldn't be missed. Her empty bedroom had been stripped of carpet and relaid with easy-to-clean tile. She had added an extra vent and a sink too, not that she would need it, but basic safety equipment wouldn't cause any harm. To add to the horror film vibe she had purchased a lot of plastic wrap, gloves, apron, the whole she-bang. It was all sterilized and ready for testing.
The only thing she was testing was her samples of Angeal's blood and DNA and what she had from Genesis so she could make the proper mixture for his injections.
At the outset nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Genesis's cells were more reactive than Angeal's, but that was as it should be.
Then she noticed something really strange. Angeal and Genesis were very similar: both male, both enhanced, nearly the same mako count, from the same place, etc, etc. But any test that said they were more similar than that would have to be a fluke, right?
Cass lined up the DNA preliminary test one more time. She hadn't meant to run more than one just to prove they weren't actually related. This would be number ten. The results came out as expected. Angeal and Genesis completely different people, different genes, different parents, different in general.
So why then, had four out of her ten tests come out saying that Angeal and Genesis were identical twins?
Angeal frowned. He hadn't expected this response from Cass. He'd thought it was a halfway decent idea.
"I don't like it," she said again.
"I'm not going completely AWOL," Angeal said.
"You kind of are," Cass replied, "who else did you tell besides me?"
"...No one," Angeal said.
"Not even Zack?" Cass asked.
"...I can't," Angeal said and it hurt to say it, "I do trust Zack, but I don't trust him to keep this a secret. If Genesis finds out-"
"So you're going to lie to everyone," Cass said, "Even Sephiroth."
"No...well yes," Angeal said, "Is he still in Wutai looking for Genesis?"
"Yes," she said, "He thinks that if he can...I don't know what he's thinking actually. I think he believes this whole thing is his fault."
"...Is it?" Angeal asked. He had to be sure.
"I don't think so," Cass said, "Whatever happened to Genesis...it would take more than a scrape from a spar to cause it."
"I'm going to find him," Angeal said, "and bring him back."
"And I do not like it," Cass repeated.
"I won't go AWOL like he did," Angeal said, "You're my contact."
"Joy," Cass said.
"If I can't talk some sense into him then maybe you can," Angeal said, "and I trust you not to tell anyone else. They might kill him." Angeal feel silent.
"I know," Cass said, "Fine, what is the plan?"
"Zack and I are next on the roster to take down Tamblin," Angeal said, "I disappear once it's done."
"And then?" Cass asked.
"Then I call you when I find Genesis."
Cass kept working. What the hell was wrong with Angeal and Genesis? It made no sense. They couldn't possibly be related, could they? Genesis was adopted...but they looked nothing alike.
She felt scraped thin coming into the offices. She couldn't possibly handle a mission at this point. She wanted so badly to either sleep or shoot something, something alive. Like Hojo.
How she managed to stay calm through the day was beyond her reckoning. She was going to pass out, have a seizure, develop cancer, and get hit by a stray bullet. Something was going to kill her and then everyone would find out just how much she was hiding and what a traitor she had been and-
Tseng was walking away from her desk. There was nothing to indicate that he had been up to anything.
Except that Tseng had no reason to be at her desk.
Cass downed her cold coffee and went to investigate. It wasn't as sinister as she thought. He brought her a flower. With a note.
To your friend.
Cass couldn't help, but look back. Tseng, of course, was as calm as ever. He hadn't spoken when he had slipped Aerith's surveillance missions off the rosters and he wouldn't speak now.
But Aerith had sent this with him. Aeris who was Gast's daughter. And Gast who had-
You're missing something. The information is right in front of you, but your brain is just blocking the way. Bias, my dear, is the root of all evil. Look again, look anew and ask the right question.
It had been a sweet lecture from someone who had suffered the same problem with harsher consequences. Cass couldn't see the answer, because she wasn't asking the right question.
She needed to see the problem again.
Cass left early. It was rare enough to be noticed, but wasn't questioned. She pulled the most overtime after Tseng and Veld. She could leave early and not get a pay cut.
Tseng noticed a yellow blossom tucked under her arm.
Cass sighed. Angeal and Genesis were not related in the least. Somehow, somewhere they were introduced to another's DNA. She wasn't sure how except for injections, but there was nothing that could cause that with what she gave Genesis. One question answered and three million more popped up.
She looked at it again seeing patterns.
Who ever the mystery person was, they were related to Angeal. Not to Genesis, just to Angeal.
Cass continued. Perhaps this strange donation given to Angeal and Genesis had something to do with what had happened. It took hours to finally isolate enough of the foreign matter to actually test it. She kept them separate for each man. She didn't think it was wise to mix them up since she didn't know what they were.
She felt the Earth tilt and the slight hold she had found for herself begin to shift, however.
The first had come with the news that Angeal had defected. She kept her neutrality. Angeal had told her he found Genesis, but that was it. He spoke in yes and no and Cass felt something was wrong.
She got an inadvertent answer through a microscope. She watched the display with mild awe and horror. It looked like Genesis...his very genetic code...was tearing apart at the seams.