Welcome to chapter 4! First off we want to thank you for all the amazing feedback you gave us, we were so happy you wouldn't believe it XD And on this note I also want to apologize for the late update, I had intended to upload the new chapter earlier but as some of you might already know there is some technical trouble at ff(dot)net right now. If you are a writer and cannot upload new chapters or stories send me a PM and I will tell you how to do it. Special thanks to soyna for figuring it out and to danslalune for the immensely helpful betaing!

Enjoy!

Chapter 4

How he survived the trip back to Midgar was a mystery to Genesis. The antidote caused his stomach to do silly flips and dances, plus the disturbing motion of the chopper was…bad, very bad. He did pass out once or twice during the flight, but his fear of actually dying was lessened by the diligent ministrations of the medics.

When he came back to himself, he was back in Midgar, dressed neatly in an all white hospital gown. His arm was aching dully, but Genesis assumed that it was due to the infusion that was dripping into the cannula next to him. Sighing, he closed his eyes again. How did he end up in the hospital after his first mission anyway? Must have been Sephiroth's fault, that was the easiest excuse.

"Ah, you are awake. How are you feeling?"

A nurse in a white dress smiled down at him. Genesis and his squat team were the hot topic at camp now, since they had killed a Zolom on their first mission and had even survived it! Granted they had had Sephiroth with them, but even then it was an achievement! The investigation into how this could have happened was still going on and ,so far, there had been no official statement. Angeal was being questioned right now though and eventually someone would come to ask Genesis about the incident as well.

"Fine, I guess…" Genesis answered reluctantly. He briefly tried to move the fingers of his right hand, but he couldn't feel them at all. No surprise considering the painkillers.

"Do you know how the others are doing?" he then asked, turning to face the nurse. Her smile was open and inviting, but being as it was, Genesis couldn't have felt more uncomfortable. How he hated hospitals, he simply wasn't used to them.

"They are fine," the nurse smiled, "Mister Hewley is reporting to his superiors right now and Sephiroth is being examined by his doctor as well." She took a glass of water and guided it to his lips, waiting for him to drink, because he needed a lot of fluid now. "There are guests waiting for you outside, I told them to leave since we didn't know when you would wake up, but they insisted on waiting...would you like to see them?"

Genesis gulped the water down like a good boy and leaned back with a sigh before raising his eyebrow.

"Guests uh…?"

He replayed what the nurse had said before. Sephiroth was with a doctor, so it couldn't be him. Angeal was being questioned, so it couldn't be him either. There weren't many people who would visit him, apart from those two perhaps. There were no others that he could think of, actually. "Sure, why not?" he said, shrugging. Whoever was visiting him, it couldn't be half as bad as boredom.

The nurse set the glass aside and helped Genesis to sit up before she left the room, probably to get Genesis' mysterious guests. For a while nothing happened and the room was quiet, but eventually the sound of unfamiliar voices began to waft in from the hallway.

"I don't wanna!"

"C'mon Kadaj, stop being such a baby."

"I'm not a baby, you are, you crybaby!"

"Oi, I'm not crying!"

"...Don't cry Loz. Now you two behave and be nice."

Finally a person appeared in the door way, a relatively bulky teenager with short silver hair, red cheeks and a slightly awkward attitude. He was obviously embarrassed and he scratched his head as he walked into the room, uncertainly. Next came another person with longer hair and delicate features that pretty much looked like the little sister of Sephiroth. Someone smaller clung to her legs but hid behind them so that Genesis couldn't see who it was. The biggest of the threesome cleared his throat after a look from the sister.

"H-Hello."

Genesis cocked his head and eyed them closely. All silver hair, rather lean yet somewhat muscular. They reminded him a lot of Sephiroth. Must be the hair, he told himself.

"Hey… what can I do for you?" he asked carefully, not to frighten the poor kid even more. A movement caught his attention and he was suddenly looking directly into two sapphire eyes that peaked at him from behind the woman's waist. The boy was obviously the youngest and therefore shy. But actually, they all looked as if they wished a black hole would suddenly swallow them up so they could disappear now, except for the girl perhaps.

The big guy got a nudge in the rib from the girl and cleared his throat again.

"Uhm, you may not know us... I am Loz," he finally said, looking a bit lost on how to continue before he seemed to remember. "I'm fourteen. This is my brother, Yazoo, he's thirteen." Loz pointed at the supposed girl, who narrowed his eyes in displeasure and pointed out in a calm but distinctly male voice, "I am going to be fourteen next month." Loz shifted a bit uncomfortably, biting his lip, but then decided to just move on. "And that behind Yazoo is Kadaj, he is 8."

Kadaj glared at Genesis for no apparent reason and then hid back behind Yazoo's legs.

The red-head blinked for a brief moment, looking at them with open confusion but also curiosity.

"Well, hello then, Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj," he said, sending Loz an encouraging smile. He hadn't known that he could be so nice to anyone for longer than four seconds, but this guy really struck a chord with him. He looked so lost, like a little puppy.

"I don't like him…" The boy – Kadaj – snapped from behind Yazoo's legs, sending Genesis more evil looks. He could bet that this was just because Kadaj felt safe where he was. Feeling a little lost himself, Genesis sat up and waved for them to take a seat.

"Kadaj!" Yazoo reprimanded, his voice still calm and quiet but with a razor sharp edge that made the little boy behind him flinch. Still, he quickly stuck out his tongue at the redhead, just for good measure.

"We do not want to disturb you for long," Yazoo finally replied when they had come closer. Loz had taken a seat, but Yazoo remained standing, as Kadaj wouldn't let go of him, his arms clinging stubbornly to his brother's legs.

"We just came by to thank you. No one has actually said anything official, but there is a rumor that you saved our brother... and we are very grateful for that." He bowed lowly and Loz hurriedly stood to bow as well. Even Kadaj sullenly lowered his head a little.

"Your bro… oh…" Genesis stopped when he finally got it. "You mean Sephiroth? Ha, that explains the similarities." He smiled a little again, and wondered how big, bad Sephiroth could have such a – kind of – charming family. They didn't seem to share their brother's sense of 'over-blown self-esteem', for which he was quite grateful.

"There is no need to thank me," he said at last, "I guess anybody would've done that… Oh, I haven't even introduced myself," he added with a quiet laugh. "I'm Genesis and I'd love to shake hands with you but…" He pointed at his right arm and shrugged helplessly.

"Does it hurt?" Kadaj's small voice held a curious tone. He had finally let his brother sit down, eyeing him closely from behind the chair now, with obvious interest in his bandaged arm.

"Nah, not anymore."

"Great!" Loz looked very relieved, relaxing a bit. "You must be pretty good, eh?" he asked, watching Genesis curiously, trying to measure his strength. The redhead looked a bit skinny and pale and not really like the hero kind of guy, but then again, he was injured. Loz decided to cut him some slack.

Yazoo was busy rebuttoning an unwilling Kadaj's shirt, assessing coolly, "It's just because Seph is always so reckless, he's worse than Kadaj at times..."

"If I had been just a little better, I wouldn't be here either," Genesis joked, assuaged that the mood was losing its tense atmosphere. He smiled at Yazoo's remark, noting that the girl-like boy definitely assumed the mother role among the three. "I wouldn't call him reckless, just…" reckless "…confident."

"Big Brother is the best warrior on earth…" Kadaj chanted. "I don't think you saved him…"

"Kadaj, that's rude!" Loz hollered, but it was as clear as day that he had some doubts of his own. At least he was polite enough to be quiet about them. Yazoo narrowed his eyes and turned Kadaj back towards him, fumbling with the last button.

"But he is," Kadaj pouted.

Genesis only smiled and shook his head. "It's okay… I can't quite believe it myself so… why should you? In the end it was Sephiroth who did all the hard work…" Considering it, he knew it was true. As much as it hurt his pride, he had to admit that the silver-haired man had killed the Zolom, and that he would have been better off without Genesis. But he was a Third, he was allowed to make mistakes and be a little inexperienced.

"See, as I said!" Kadaj said proudly, a grin spreading over his small face.

"He wasn't supposed to go on a mission though," Loz frowned, fumbling with his sleeve. "He had said that he would come home today and that this class he had to take was just some formal stuff..."

"I wanna see his room!" Kadaj piped up excitedly. "Seph said that he had one to himself and that we could visit him now whenever we want! Pretty cool, what?" His cheeks were glowing a bit with pride and he wanted Genesis to confirm how cool their brother was, because who in their right mind could possibly deny that?

Genesis laughed a little; that sounded so like Sephiroth.

"I guess he thought it would be just formal stuff, nobody knew about the mission after all…" he answered, feeling as if he had to search for an excuse for what had happened. He also couldn't quite point out that Sephiroth wasn't all as great as Kadaj imagined him to be, because… hey, he had had his heroes during childhood, too. So why destroy someone else's? The redhead wondered whether it was a good idea to tell them that the SOLDIER Second Class didn't, in fact, have a room to himself, or not.

"Well yeah… about the room…" he started, pausing when he received a disappointed look from Kadaj. "He's sharing one with me, okay? I know he wanted one for himself, but, you know… ShinRa…" Genesis made a comical gesture through the air, implying the whole institution around them with it.

"Oh..." The three of them looked pretty disappointed.

"Well," Yazoo turned to Kadaj again, who had balled his hands into little fists in frustration, "I guess he can still be home on the weekends..."

"This sucks," Loz blurted, something glistening in his eyes that looked suspiciously like tears. "How is he supposed to take care of us then? He can't leave us alone all week!"

"We'll figure something out," Yazoo muttered, managing to look doubtful despite his blank expression. "We are old enough to take care of ourselves."

Ow, what did I do? Genesis asked himself, sighing when the three boys started talking at the same time, expressing how disappointed, how crestfallen they were.

"Hey, it's okay…who says you can't come around during the week? Well, if it's okay (with) for me to be around. I could do something else from time to time, but, you know…"

It was pretty hard to calm three boys who were obviously dependent on the guy, whose guts he hated.

"So you don't necessarily have to be on your own all the time," he smiled timidly.

Kadaj looked at him with big, green eyes. "I like you now." he suddenly said, surprising Genesis with an open smile.

Before they could say anymore or express their excitement at the news, the door opened, Sephiroth peeked inside for a split second and the door closed. Then it was abruptly pulled open again, as apparently the man had found what he was searching for.

"You three!" His voice was half strict, half relieved. "What are you thinking, wandering off like that? You want me to get an early heart attack? What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be in school?"

Kadaj was already running at him, bouncing against the man's legs and wrapping his short arms about his brother's waist, "We came to visit you! Are you hurt?" At the huge teary eyes that were turned on him Sephiroth could never stay angry and he sighed, still oblivious to Genesis' presence. Lifting the small boy up to set him on his arm, he ruffled Kadaj's hair. "I am fine. Such a pathetic Zolom wouldn't get me that easily now, would it?"

He smiled at the boy, the bandage on his forehead telling a different story. But Kadaj didn't seem to notice, his eyes shining brightly as he urged his big brother to tell him what had been going on, waiting for every heroic detail Sephiroth would give him. It was obvious to Genesis that Sephiroth meant a lot to the small boy – no, to all of them. Yazoo looked relieved, mixed with a little anger and fondness. An odd combination, but Genesis could relate. Loz – again – looked like he was going to cry.

What a charming gang!

"And Genesis told us that you didn't have a single room as you told us, but he said we could still come around whenever we want to, so it's okay and I like him now, even though I didn't like him before because he did not save you, but everybody says that…" Kadaj's excited rant shook Genesis out of his observations, his gaze fixing on Sephiroth and the boy once again.

"Genesis?" Sephiroth frowned, wondering how they could have spoken to Genesis, when finally his gaze drifted over to the occupant of the bed. Immediately his back stiffened and his expression went blank, if not icy, and he set Kadaj down, his attitude changing from a loving, concerned brother to badass SOLDIER in the blink of an eye.

This was exactly why he hated his brothers being here; first off, this was the military and they were innocent and didn't need to see all the bloodshed and the dirty part of his job. Secondly, he had an image to maintain here, and it clashed horribly with his role as a big brother who cared deeply for his family. He couldn't reveal to anyone that he had a weak point (namely his family) because the army was a lions' den and he had enough enemies already who would take advantage of his weaknesses.

And now, of all people, Genesis had to know!

Of course, Genesis noticed Sephiroth's change immediately, despite the physical distance between them. He sighed, he should have expected that. The silver haired man wasn't always as aloof and cynical as he'd been when Genesis had first met him, but he guessed he could understand why Sephiroth pretended to be – he rather had to be like that. It was what he was expected to do after all.

The redhead waved his hand dismissively. "It's okay…," he said to no one in particular, noticing the strange looks he got from Kadaj and Loz, while Yazoo seemed to understand what he wanted to express.

"Can't wecome to visit you, Seph?" Kadaj asked shyly, pulling at Sephiroth's trousers to get his undivided attention.

"You should go back home for now, I will get you a cab. I'll call you later and we can talk about it then," Sephiroth replied, somewhat tense.

"But-" Kadaj started to protest, but was stopped by Yazoo. "Let's go home for now, Kadaj. Seph is all right, as you can see. He must have a lot of work to do. We can talk later."

"Yeah," Loz added, though he didn't look too happy himself. Kadaj made a sour face and put on his best pout but it didn't seem to impress anyone that much. The three of them bowed quickly at Genesis and then let themselves be practically pushed out of the door by their brother.

For a few quiet moments the red-head was by himself, until Sephiroth reemerged, shutting the door behind him with narrowed eyes and much more force than should have been necessary.

"One word to anyone and I will kill you."

Genesis raised his eyebrow at that and felt annoyance boiling up inside of him again.

"Yeah right, as if I have nothing to do but tell the whole world that you have a family that you love." He shook his auburn head at that, wishing that he could know that feeling for himself. "But don't worry, not that I'd profit from it anyways."

"You better not. If you do I will make you regret it dearly," Sephiroth growled menacingly. He didn't believe the brat; it was an opportunity too good to pass on and for that kind of information and leverage a lot of people would pay. There was no way to tell for sure that Genesis wasn't just an opportunistic brat who would sell his soul to get high in rank quickly; he seemed pretty ambitious.

Sephiroth briefly wondered at what point this had turned into a death threat, when initially he had just come by to see how his room mate was doing. After the fight he had thought that maybe Genesis wasn't such a bad guy after all, and that he certainly had skill and the right attitude, that he may deserve respect even. However, the moment he had opened that hospital door and had seen his brothers in the company of a possible threat, his overprotective, paranoid self had taken over again.

"So, how are you?" he finally asked after a long, tense pause, lifting his chin.

"Woa, woa… okay…" Genesis said slowly, trying to comprehend that Sephiroth had turned his mood around 180° again. "Can you please stop changing your mood like your underwear for once? It's pretty hard to follow." To put it nicely, he thought sourly.

And indeed it was true. One moment Sephiroth was threatening to kill him because he knew about his family and the next moment he was being all SOLDIER like and asking how Genesis felt, just like a good friend would do. Genesis didn't know what to make of this ambivalent behavior.

"But, I'm fine, I guess. Apart from that I cannot feel my fingers, but well… guess that comes with having an oversized snake chop off your arm," he said lightly, just wanting to change the topic. He didn't really have the urge to make Sephiroth feel any more uncomfortable unless it was truly necessary.

"But how about you? No severe head damages?"Genesis could barely restrain the tiny smile that wanted to spread over his lips.

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed at first, the urge to challenge the redheaded boy rising inside him, but then he inwardly sighed and came towards the bed, stopping a few feet away.

"Nothing significant as of yet," he replied, allowing himself a tiny smirk as well. Genesis was right, recently he'd behaved worse than a PMSing woman... "That was quite reckless of you." He couldn't help but mention it, though he tried to make it sound non-committal.

Genesis shrugged as much as his 'secured' arm would allow. "I could say the same about you," he said, his eyes meeting Sephiroth's with a twinkle in them. " Stumbling towards your sword with a huge monster right in front of you, a monster that is ready to tear you into pieces...wasn't your smartest move, SOLDIER boy." But he smiled and there was no venom in his words whatsoever.

"So…" the red-head started, suddenly losing track and wondering what to say next, "...do you know when I'll be cleared for my next mission?" It was the cleverest thing that he could think of to say at that moment.

"You should ask the doctor to be certain but I suspect that you will be ready to partake in missions within a few days. Until then, I am assigned to support you in your daily routine," Sephiroth replied neutrally.

It was annoying, because it meant even less time for him and his brothers. On the other hand, Genesis had helped him back there, kind of, and it was a SOLDIER's duty to acknowledge that. They had a strict codex of honor, after all.

"Is there anything you need to be done?"

The other nodded solemnly, sensing from Sephiroth that he was rather reluctant to stay here with him and Genesis had well-founded suspicions as to why that was so. It was kind of reassuring to know that it wasn't only because the taller man hated his guts.

"Nah, I'm quite fine. It's not like I never broke my arm or anything," he replied, before turning to show the silver haired SOLDIER a knowing smile along with a twitch of his head in the direction of the door. "I guess your brothers miss you."

At the mention of his brothers Sephiroth stiffened again, as he was not comfortable (to) discussing sensitive, family issues with a person whose character he could not reckon up. In all actuality Sephiroth didn't even know if he liked Genesis. The young man was infuriating and confusing and utterly outrageous. But, he was also the only person who had managed to get under Sephiroth's skin in quite a while...

"They will be fine," he finally said, eying the redhead up and down. Intent on changing the topic, Sephiroth asked, "And what compelled you to throw yourself in front of a 33 foot snake?"

Genesis was quite surprised that Sephiroth didn't immediately use his family as an excuse to get away from him, but he couldn't say if it was because he wanted to stay or because he felt obligated. This guy was so puzzling.

"How do you know how long that thing was?" he asked, baffled. 33 feet? Quite long… really rather a lot long. "Nah, well… you were in danger, weren't you? I mean…" Now that Sephiroth asked, Genesis wasn't too sure anymore of why he had thrown himself between the Zolom and the warrior. It had just happened and it had been the only right thing that had popped up in his mind at that moment.

"If I see somebody in danger, I'm helping, okay? Leave it at that."

In danger? Sephiroth resisted the urge to bristle. The thought that he had to be saved was simply ridiculous because he was ShinRa's 'wunderkind', the company's gifted, heroic, impossibly talented prodigy! And if it hadn't been for Genesis, the situation they were facing now would never have arisen and...

Sephiroth forced himself to stop that train of thought, surprised. He hadn't realized that he was that vain, that he would feel offended about the suggestion of needing help. The boasting headlines in the newspapers were something he had thought he was immune to, but apparently he had been wrong.

"You have the right spirit to become SOLDIER then, I guess," the silver haired man finally said slowly.

Something inside of Genesis hardened suddenly. This sounded too much like…

"Is that the standard twaddle they teach you to tell battle-injured Thirds?" he asked sarcastically. Even though it had sounded speculative even careful, Sephiroth's words had still struck a chord inside of Genesis' soul. It was the way the words had been spoken, despite their tentative undertones. It was like the other was reading from ShinRa's 'How to cope with injured SOLDIERs' book.

It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

And there it was again, that annoying, stand-offish attitude that drove Sephiroth nuts and never failed to provoke him!

"No," he said lowly, stretching the word in sardonic testiness. "I said it because for just a split second I almost thought that it could be true, but you just proved that it was a waste of breath."

Genesis glowered at him, but inside he was regretting his doubts suddenly. But shying away now would scratch at his ego and that was something he would never let anybody do, not even himself.

"Pf… everything you say is a waste of breath." Okay, now this was going down hill.

Sephiroth wordlessly turned at that and walked out of the room. Apart from the fact that anything he could have replied was apparently seen as something annoying and superfluous, he really didn't have the energy for this right now. The Second was still dirty and raw and he would have to write a report and meet important people who enjoyed torturing him with endless questions; not to mention that there was a press conference as well about how he had saved poor little recruits and whatnot.

Who was Genesis Rhapsodos anyway, and what did his opinion matter? Nothing, that's what. And Sephiroth would not get provoked for a very simple reason:

He didn't care.

Tbc

MaryMurderprincess/BMIK replying

HikariFighter

Tehe, cliffhangers are killers, I know. But you love 'em :) Update now, yah! Thanks for the comment! Thanks^^ I wish we could have updated sooner, but ff was being troublesome, sorry!

hayakatsu

Welcome to the League of Eternal Lovers of Seph x Gen. *gives you a welcome present* They are awesome and need to be cherish ;) Thanks for the compliment :D This is a great boost! Here ya go, next chap ;) Thank you! Yeah, right? All the smex went uncommented on XD Well, I take it then there wasn't anything to criticize about ;)

xXSaltzXx

Thanks a lot, that really means something to us! But anyways, comments are always nice, yet we will definitely continue as long as this story continues being so exciting :D But hell I know how hard it is to formulate a comment, when you are caught up in a story… well I least I hope that's what has kept people from reviewing. Anyways they did comment a lot now *giggles* Thankies again! You are certainly right, comments aren't anything, but they are a helpful device to develop a story and hone one's writing skills^^ So thank you for taking the time to leave feedback! 3

darkbloodymoon

Thank you, dear! Reviews come and go but as long as someone is reading this story we are happy :) Thanks! I luff them too, aren't they just adorable? XD

Lenko

Well thank you o_o" I'm… stunned actually. I cannot believe it, you are finding so many great things about this story X/D (and yes I do love BMIK's style too a lot *_*) Anyways, thankies! I for my part am not too sure about my action scenes (I guess BMIK did most of it anyways…) but it's a great ego boost, thanks! I hope you will enjoy the following chapters as well! Heyyyy! How nice to see you here too! Hehe, yes it wasn't exactly love at first sight for the two of them XD They will have to go a long, hard way for their joined happiness ;) And thanks for the comment on the action scenes!

iloooveinuyasha1

Even though going randomly for each other can also be yummy ;) Ah, but thank you! We really wanted a situation where we could display the sides of them that we find interesting =) I'm glad you like it that much that you read it even though it's not your typical paring ;) I hope we can keep you as a reader! Thanks and enjoy! I must admit that I haven't read that many Sephesis stories yet (no time :( ) so I am extra happy you find our scenario plausible! I hope we can keep that up XD Thanks for the review!

Gismo1

Smart cookies XD That fits them quite well! I guess I'll keep that expression ;) Thanks a lot for the praise. This is way too flattering xD Anyways I'm glad you like the two of them and I can promise you… they will have fun :D In more than one way ;) Thanks! Hehehe, thanks!Yes, they are equipped with ammo now and we will have to see who wins the next fight XD The war is long from being over ;)

Shadow Haloed Angel

Don't worry about it anymore! The reviews for Chapter 3 make up for any lack of them in the previous chapter. Damn, so many o_o" I'm merry you like our descriptions and conversations :D They are so much fun to write too (just a bonus, yah!) Thanks for reviewing and have fun with the next chapter! Aw, thank you so much for your concern! Hm, I suppose those two are naturals at finding others' strengths and weaknesses; if they weren't they would never have made it to Generals in the end? I think they have some kind of slightly twisted love/hate thingy going on XD

omgitskirby

Thanks :D Here's the next chapter ;) What she said XD Thank you!

moonlightskymist

Why, thank you :) Always nice to hear that. Hope you will be enjoying the next chapter too! Thanks! Hm, this fanfic is partly AU. We kept some major themes like the training to become SOLDIER but we twisted other facts from the games, as you will see. I hope you will enjoy them^^

Anonymous

I'm definitely sad you have no name here xD But anyways. Damn you are saying we are writing one of the best stories here? Thanks so much, this is… well I dunno, I'm missing words for this… We won't stop writing in the near future I guess, so yeah. Don't you worry! Thanks again! This really means something! Thank you! We dont intend to stop writing this fic (at least as far as I am informed XD). I´m glad you enjoy it and thanks for the feedback!^^

As always feedback is very welcome^^