On the screen, the four SOLDIERS watched as young Tifa stubbornly went up the mountain in search of her mother while her friends each abandoned her… except for Cloud.

"To be fair, going to get an adult is a good idea," Angeal said as they watched young Cloud follow Tifa up Mount Nibel.

"That mountain is certainly no place for young children," Genesis muttered. "We walked all over those mountains in the game and ran into a new monster every ten steps, it seemed. They're lucky they haven't been completely consumed by a Bom-om or Nibel wolf."

And he points out yet more game insanity.

"Nah, the game makers probably just upped the encounter rate for you guys earlier," Zack commented, throwing a new term at them. "I haven't been on too many missions outside of Midgar, yet, but even I know that people don't actually run into that many monsters unless they're looking for them. Especially the rarer ones. And not all monsters are that aggressive, and most'll retreat before they die. Right?"

Sephiroth stared at the Third, blinking. He… wasn't wrong. But 'encounter rate'? That made sense in the game, he supposed, but was still a rather strange concept. Next to him, Genesis looked mildly surprised and Angeal thoughtful.

The Silver General couldn't decide if Zack's explanation made the game worse or better.

On-screen, the two friends still following her, besides Cloud, left when they reached the rope bridge. Cloud let them pass, but followed.

The screen faded out, then faded back in to white. Young Tifa and Cloud lay on the ground while Tifa, Shadow Cloud and Older Cloud looked on.

"And the bridge breaks again," Genesis said dramatically. "I rather wonder if most rope bridges on Mount Nibel actually do fail, or if this is more insanity."

"It broke before?" Zack asked.

"Technically this one would be the before, as they are children in this scene and the second occurrence happens ... later. Figuring out the timing of events has been frustrating."

Angeal snorted in amusement… or agreement. Sephiroth wasn't quite sure which. Both, perhaps?

Tifa said she didn't remember the path she took that day. Shadow Cloud said Tifa missed her step and while Cloud tried to get to her, he didn't make it in time and fell himself. Cloud only scarred his knees, but apparently Tifa had been really hurt. Then the villagers who found them – one of them likely Tifa's father – blamed Cloud for that. Then they just… left him. A child. In the mountains.

"That town doesn't seem like a good place to raise a child," Sephiroth commented.

Genesis snorted and turned to him. "Coming from you, that says quite a lot."

The silver-haired man didn't have anything to say to that.

Tifa had been in a coma for seven days, and apparently they thought she wouldn't make it. And, naturally, Cloud blamed himself and thought Tifa did too.

"It wasn't your fault, Spike!" Zack yelled.

"Zack, he can't hear you," Angeal said, patting his shoulder again.

What, you've never yelled at your TV before?" the younger boy asked, a little petulantly. "It's cathartic. At least that's what the Racing fans in the sports bar said." When no one responded, he leaned back against the couch, grumbling again. "Well, I'm going to tell him that the next time I see him."

"You'll scare him," Genesis said. "He won't know how you know. He doesn't even actually know you yet."

Zack shrugged. "I'll figure it out."

Genesis rolled his eyes but said nothing more. Angeal just sighed again.

Apparently Cloud began to act out after that, getting into fights… and that was the first time he heard about Sephiroth. He thought if he was strong like Sephiroth then…

Sephiroth stared at the screen for several seconds as the music started again.

Strong like him.

Sephiroth knew he was physically strong but he had problems in other ways. Socially… well, he was lucky to have friends at all. And he didn't know quite how he was mentally deficient, but he knew and understood that he was. He knew his childhood had been different… he just hadn't realized quite how different. And perhaps that meant he was more broken than even he suspected.

He hoped Cloud didn't have to be strong like him.

He hoped Cloud could find his own strength – a healthy strength.

The scene faded back into the stone platforms and pillars and marble surrounded by the green of the Lifestream. Meanwhile, Tifa faced Older Cloud and Shadow Cloud, the latter of which looked to the side. 'If I could just get stronger, then even Tifa would have to notice me.'

'So, that was it?' Tifa asked. Then she apologized, saying if she had remembered more clearly sooner, she could have done something.

"Like, perhaps, tell the truth?" Genesis asked, sounding annoyed. Angeal snorted in agreement.

"She said she didn't remember," Zack defended.

"She didn't want to remember," Sephiroth replied. "Perhaps it was too painful. You said young minds aren't as developed. She already lost one stable figure, then was almost killed for perhaps the first time in her life. Is that normal for a child?"

Angeal shook his head. "No. And it's understandable she would have had problems."

"But she still hurt Cloud," Genesis said.

"She apologized," Zack pointed out.

"Not for that," Genesis returned.

"Look, we're not done," Angeal cut in sternly. "And we can argue about this later. But for now, we have a game to play and about…" he looked down at his PHS, "a little over an hour in which to get as far as we can."

Zack looked down, petulant again. "Sorry," he muttered.

Genesis rolled his eyes. "Oh, very well. Please, continue, Sephiroth."

Probably realizing that was as good as they'd likely get from the two of them, Angeal nodded at Sephiroth, who returned the gesture and they went back to the game.

Older Cloud stepped forward and told Tifa it wasn't her fault. But she said she remembered enough back when she was eight to know that Cloud wasn't created five years ago. She insisted they were getting closer to finding the real him.

"At least she hasn't lost her focus," Genesis mused.

Then Tifa said they should go back to Nibelheim again.

Shadow Cloud walked into Older Cloud, who ran through another transparent Cloud heading back towards the first one Sephiroth had actually spoken to. Sephiroth had Tifa follow. Indeed, the green shadow of Nibelheim had returned.

Tifa hurried in, stopped at the gates and turned around, raising her hands as if to say, 'Come on!' while Cloud, who had been walking, ran up to her and then they both ran into the town.

They ran through the square towards the ShinRa Mansion, but before they got there, Tifa stopped and called out to Cloud, asking where he was going.

He answered, '… The reactor…?' Then he turned around and nodded surely. 'To the reactor. The Mako Reactor of five years ago.'

Tifa agreed and they both ran on. The scene faded out.

When it came back in, Game Sephiroth was wrestling with Tifa at the top of the steps, Masamune in hand. Everyone winced a little when he slashed at Tifa and she fell backwards on the stairs.

"I still say she shouldn't have survived that," Genesis muttered.

Both Sephiroth and Angeal nodded.

Zack, however…

"So… that's what happened," he said softly.

"What?" Angeal and Genesis said at the same time.

Zack shook his head as if to remind himself of where he was, not in rejection. Then he turned to look at them. "In the game, Sep… er… I mean, Game Sephiroth burned the town, then turned and walked into the flames. The next thing I knew, I… er… Game me was running and I found Tifa. I knelt down beside her, but she turned away from me."

"She shouldn't be able to move," Genesis said, pointing to the screen where this version of Zack ran in.

"I- er, game me checked her, but because she was alive, I guess, I ran up the stairs, after Sephiroth."

"Game Sephiroth," Angeal corrected.

Sephiroth nodded in appreciation at him.

"Right," Zack said, also nodding in complete agreement. Something loosened in Sephiroth's chest. "In any case, she said she hated ShinRa and SOLDIER and everything. Then I went to fight S – Game Sephiroth."

They all turned and watched as, on screen, Older Tifa said, 'Hey, it's Cloud!'

"What?!" Zack said, "I don't even look like Spike!"

Meanwhile, Game Sephiroth walked into the room with Jenova. The camera panned back down to Zack. Older Cloud began to stutter out Zack's name, finally saying it coherently. And, even if there was any lingering doubt (or hope of being wrong) before, it didn't sting less to have official confirmation from their own game itself.

'You remembered!' Older Tifa exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Game Zack just ran right by Tifa, following Sephiroth.

"I didn't even stop to check on her here!" Zack exclaimed angrily. "That's not me!"

Angeal tried to calm him. "We know that's not you, Zack. You were the one who told me that some graphics are limited and can only show so much.

"B-but he… I-I didn't even stop!"

"You already said game-you did in your game," Angeal said as he shook his head. "We know you would, Pup.

The boy was silent for a second before looking back at his mentor. "Y-you do?"

Genesis scoffed. "Even Sephiroth and I know that. You are a ball of candied apples and pure sunshine. Of course you'd stop to check."

Zack turned around and sat back against the couch, looking down. "Thanks," he said softly, but earnestly.

"It is merely the truth," Sephiroth said, shrugging.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zack smile a little, not loud or boisterous, and yet it seemed all the more real for it.

On the screen, Zack disappeared into the room with Jenova and Older Tifa said she remembered now that the SOLDIER who had come to Nibelheim's name was Zack. Then she asked where Cloud was.

As soon as the transparent dialogue box disappeared, Zack came flying out from the room backwards, landing on top of one of the tanks.

The music stopped and a heartbeat replaced it.

"I so won that fight," Zack muttered sulkily. "The game cheated."

Before they could say anything, though, the camera began to move around erratically, like it didn't seem to want to focus on the room. A couple of seconds later, a shadowy figure rushed into the room. Older Cloud said he saw everything. The camera finally focused on the shadowy figure who ran up the steps after stopping by Tifa. Then it stopped by Zack and picked up the buster sword…

No…

The Buster Sword.

That they'd been commenting on since they'd first seen it.

Oh.

"Wait," Angeal said, "that's…?" He faded off, but Zack didn't reply. He also didn't look at his mentor.

"Not now," Genesis said quietly.

Angeal looked pained, but nodded.

Sephiroth remembered what Zack had told Angeal – told all of them, really – when they'd joined him at Aerith's church: that if they even felt unworthy, like they couldn't live for whatever reason, they did not have the right to 'death-by student'. The boy had been frustrated, stressed and emotional, likely scared and even with the confusing 'I'll kill you if you ask me to kill you, then I won't,' had outright told Angeal that he couldn't leave him like that. Sephiroth had wondered, at the time, but with this context...

"Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse," Genesis muttered. Sephiroth nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, on the screen, the shadowed figure rushed into the Jenova room where Game Sephiroth stood before the blue tank housing the alien being.

An infantry man rushed in holding the sword. He didn't say anything, but instead took the large sword, raced up the pipes leading to the tank, and thrust the sword through Game Sephiroth's gut, just as he turned around.

Game Sephiroth let out an 'Aaarrrgh!', then asked who this new figure was. In the background the heartbeat sped up.

The infantry man said to give back his Mom, Tifa and the town. He went on to say how he had so much respect for Game Sephiroth, how he admired the man. Then he backed away, sword still in hand.

"In my game, he didn't even get to turn around," Zack said quietly. "The sword never came out with me, it stayed in the doorway. That's where he picked it up."

On the screen, the camera panned down to see a heavily breathing infantry.

'Cloud!?' Older Tifa asked.

The infantryman took off his helmet and indeed revealed Cloud.

Well.

He looked back over his shoulder and the screen faded out, then back in to when the company had gone up the mountain.

'…You were there,' Older Tifa said as younger Tifa went up to the mako pool they'd discovered. 'You were watching me.'

Then it showed the grunt that had stopped her from going into the reactor.

"Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul…" Genesis uttered.

"Wait, you guys didn't know Cloud was actually there?" Zack asked, surprised.

"No," Angeal responded, sounding a little surprised himself. "Game Sephiroth told him that he'd been created five years before when the original Game Sephiroth had been killed."

"Oh…" Zack responded, blinking as he wrapped his head around that. "Well… that's a lie."

Genesis actually burst out laughing at that. Meanwhile Angeal just grinned. "Indeed it is, Pup."

Sephiroth nodded, feeling equally relieved. He hadn't wanted his game counterpart to be right.

The scene of an angry Tifa not able to go into the reactor faded out and a normal blue dialogue box of Zack speaking appeared on the black. For the first time, really, since they'd all thought it had been Cloud before now.

'Hey, Cloud. If you're feeling sick, why don't you take that mask off?'

Cloud responded with, 'Yeah.'

It came back to the enormous ShinRa truck they'd been riding in. Cloud sat where the sick infantryman had been while Zack stood by his side and Sephiroth sat off to the other side. The other infantryman was in the back.

'Yeah… this is… me.' Older Cloud said as Zack turned around towards the camera. 'I never made it as a member of SOLDIER.'

Oh. Well, that made sense.

"I knew it," Genesis said tiredly. "My friend, the fates are cruel."

Based on his short spar with the boy, Sephiroth was still positive Cloud could make it if someone gave him a chance.

He was determined to change that fate.

'I even left my hometown telling everyone I was going to join… but…' Older Cloud went on. Meanwhile, Game Zack started to do squats. 'I was so embarrassed I didn't want to see anybody.'

"Getting into SOLDIER is hard," Zack said, voice quiet but hard. "There's no shame in not making it, Spike."

His words were kind, like normal Zack, but his tone had been… bitter.

"Zack," Angeal started, but the younger boy cut him off.

"Later… please."

Reluctantly, Angeal nodded and backed off.

Meanwhile it showed the group approaching Nibelheim, but Cloud took one look at Tifa waiting there for them, shook his head and ran back. He returned with a helmet on. Young Tifa looked at them, but ran off while Game Sephiroth turned around and asked Cloud how it felt…

"That was the line that convinced me," Genesis said suddenly.

Sephiroth glanced over at him. "What?"

"That line. In every iteration we've seen so far, Game Sephiroth turned around and asked how it felt to be in 'your' hometown again. Even after we knew the SOLDIER with him wasn't Cloud. Why would he do that, consistently, if someone in the group hadn't been from Nibelheim?"

Ah. Yes, that line had been somewhat suspect to Sephiroth as well. Angeal just nodded. Zack said nothing… which was actually a little unnerving, but Sephiroth figured it wasn't his place to comment on the boy's state of mind, so he didn't.

On the screen, it cut to Nibelheim burning and the infantry man who had laid in the town square. He sat up.

Then it showed Cloud running out of the Jenova room and down the stairs towards Tifa.

Meanwhile Older Tifa spoke. '…You came. ...You kept your promise. You really did come when I was in trouble.'

On the screen, Cloud scooped Tifa up and in his arms.

"You still shouldn't move her," Genesis said… to Game Cloud? Zack had had no hesitation in yelling at the characters either, had minutes ago claimed it was 'cathartic' and that others also did it, and they'd found him in the hall talking to the PHS-like console, so perhaps it wasn't so strange? Or maybe just a drama thing? What a surreal thought, that Zack and Genesis had something like that in common. Sephiroth decided not to comment on that thought either.

'Sorry… I didn't get there… sooner…' Older Cloud said as Younger Cloud carried Younger Tifa out of the way.

'It's all right… Cloud,' Older Tifa assured.

Meanwhile, Younger Cloud looked up at the top of the stairs to see Game Sephiroth stumbling out of the room.

'Just like you,' he said.

"Heh," Zack said quietly. "In my game he said, 'How dare you?!'"

"Why is Masamune in his right? And what does he have in his other hand?" Angeal asked.

It took Sephiroth a minute to figure it out but when he did, he almost recoiled in disgust. "Jenova's head," he said, and he couldn't help that his revulsion leaked into his voice.

"Wait, what?" Genesis asked as Game Sephiroth limped (sort of, it was obviously off, but he looked very stiff in Sephiroth's opinion) down the stairs. He walked right by Cloud and Zack, merely looking to either side of him before heading out the door.

"His arrogance knows no bounds," Genesis muttered.

Sephiroth hated to agree, but unfortunately, he did.

Cloud stood, leaving Tifa behind as he rushed over towards Zack… who told Cloud to kill Sephiroth.

As much as Sephiroth wanted to berate Zack for that – never send an inexperienced unenhanced after even a wounded enhanced – he also doubted Zack had been in his right mind. And, well, Cloud was the only one there. It was also possible that the charge was meant as a general imperative, that Cloud find a means, even if it wasn't by his own hand.

Cloud didn't even acknowledge, simply ran after Game Sephiroth.

In the room outside, over the reactor, Game Sephiroth continued to limp by. Cloud ran after him, calling out to him.

"Don't announce yourself!" Genesis hissed. "That's what you did right the first time!"

The other SOLDIERS nodded.

Game Sephiroth made a show of turning around as Cloud ran after him.

"Where's his sword?!" Genesis exclaimed.

"He had it in my game," Zack muttered. "Although Spike still didn't stand a chance."

Somehow he looked so guilty at that, Sephiroth had to say something.

"That wasn't you," he said. Surprised, the SOLDIER Third looked up at him. Sephiroth nodded at the screen, wincing a little when Cloud was run through by Game Sephiroth and a little glad Zack hadn't seen that. "That isn't me… and that isn't you. As Genesis said, not now and hopefully not ever. It is illogical to feel guilty over something you have not done."

Zack just looked up at him for several seconds before he chuckled and turned his gaze down again. "Doesn't stop me from feeling it."

Sephiroth snorted quietly. "No, I suppose it doesn't."

Zack sent him a wan smile.

After a moment, Genesis turned to Angeal (who looked pained) and said, "It seems this is something we should prepare for as well. I suppose… the forewarning is appreciated."

Angeal had to force his eyes from Zack and onto his friend. Then he nodded solemnly.

Meanwhile, on the screen, even skewered, Cloud moved so the sword dropped down and he grabbed it.

'...It can't be!' Game Sephiroth said as Cloud held the six-foot SOLDIER facsimile in place. Then lifted him into the air by the hilt of his blade – somehow, Sephiroth had absolutely no idea how that worked – and then threw him over the side.

What?!

"Why didn't he just let go of his sword?" Genesis asked, throwing his hands in the air once again (a motion which Sephiroth almost wanted to imitate, because still… what). "I get having to lean on it, but that was… how does that even work?!"

"Shock?" Zack asked, although he looked a bit disbelieving himself. "I mean, it's pretty impressive that Spike could move after being skewered."

"Hmm… I suppose," Genesis conceded, although he didn't sound convinced. To be fair, Sephiroth wasn't either.

"He did that in my game too," Zack said with a stiff shrug. "What can I say? Spikey's awesome. Though that was a lot easier to watch in poorer graphics. This is like… kids putting on a sock puppet show."

'Sock… puppets'?

Then Cloud collapsed and the scene faded away from white and back into the Lifestream green with the circular stone platforms, pillars and multiple Clouds.

Young Cloud stood in the center where Tifa had initially woken up. A text box came up with Tifa saying 'Cloud'. Sephiroth let it sit there.

"What happens after that?" Genesis asked.

"How did you survive, pup?" Angeal asked gently. "Do you know?"

Zack didn't look back at them. It looked… wrong somehow to see him sitting there, rigid as a board and… anything but happy. Sephiroth couldn't tell if it was anger, fear, frustration, worry, betrayal, pain of some kind, or any combination thereof, but he had to note that for once, the almost sixteen-year-old's persona of happiness had fallen away.

Sephiroth deliberately and noisily set down the controller.

"In my game," the younger SOLDIER said slowly, tightly, "he came stumbling back in. He… fought Sephiroth in the Jenova room or something. I don't know why I- game-me, didn't pull out a heal materia – I had one equipped. Were this any other game, I'd say plot, but… anyway: He and I both passed out on the stairs. Then… Hojo. A blurry, half-dark scene of Hojo walking away and talking over Cloud like he was a piece of meat or… or a…"

"Specimen," Sephiroth finished quietly.

Zack looked up and over at him, an unreadable expression on his face, like multiple conflicting emotions warred inside of him. Sephiroth didn't know him well enough to decipher it.

Eventually, the boy's expression melted into one of heartbreak – whether for Sephiroth, or for his and Cloud's game versions (or both), he didn't know.

"Yeah," was all Zack said before looking away.

"Pup," Angeal said softly.

"We ended up in mako tanks," Zack interrupted, plowing on. "I think there were Turks there. I'd… I'd been helping them the whole game and they…" he stopped and took a deep breath. "They must have come and gotten us after we passed out. Guess they saved our lives but…"

"Wait! Back up: Mako tanks?!" Angeal asked, horrified.

Zack just nodded. "It's in the report." Everyone took that as the signal it was to drop the subject.

Funny, Zack didn't seem fragile, but he did look like he might snap. Sephiroth wasn't sure what that snap would look like, and although he was sure they could handle it, he didn't think that would be productive for anyone. There were already two holes in his wall.

To be fair, Sephiroth didn't want to speak of his time in the mako tanks either. They weren't pleasant memories.

"Then let us continue," he finally said, retrieving the controller and pressing the button to continue the dialogue, ending the matter unless they wanted to risk missing something.

The scene faded from white and back into the Lifestream green with the circular stone platforms, pillars and multiple Clouds.

Young Cloud stood in the center where Tifa had initially woken up.

'Then… this is goodbye, Tifa," he said. 'Until we meet again.'

Then all three of the sitting Clouds stood as one, turned and walked forward towards the younger Cloud. They stopped at the edge of the platform, and then, one by one, each strode forward and seemed to merge with the Cloud in the center. It looked rather strange as the larger Clouds seemed to stand below the feet of the younger Cloud (a glitch?), but that honestly seemed like a minor thing right then.

After a couple of seconds, a high-pitched whistle sounded, and the Cloud that had floated closest to the screen for the entirety of the scene, curled up with his hands over his head, floated back down and also merged with Young Cloud. This one happened more slowly, and seemed to startle even Tifa as she took a step back.

Then Cloud collapsed and Tifa ran forward. Strangely, Cloud still seemed transparent, but when Tifa put out her hand, a strange clashing noise sounded and he became opaque again. At first, Sephiroth thought he slowly stood up, but it seemed he only situated himself so he was sitting down.

'Uh… Tifa?' he said.

Tifa happily proclaimed that this was really Cloud.

To Sephiroth's relief, he replied that yes, he was, and he was happy to finally meet her again.

They both stood…

And then Tifa yelled at him, calling him a jerk for worrying them sick. Sephiroth blinked.

Unfortunately, Cloud collapsed again, still holding his head. He stuttered out something about a voice and it being too loud. The same eerie, swooping tones that had played at the end of the segment at the Northern Crater moaned in the background. Tifa pointed out that they were still in the Lifestream. Then she told him everyone was waiting and they should go back to them.

Cloud agreed.

"I still don't understand how either one of them are remotely alive after being dunked in raw Mako for the amount of time they supposedly spent in that scene," Genesis muttered.

"That had to have an effect on both of them, not just mentally," Angeal agreed.

Zack, again, didn't say anything.

Sephiroth found himself regretting telling the boy not to take this as a joke. He really never had, it seemed.

'Come on, Tifa… Let's go home…' Cloud said. They both stood and everything faded to black. Then it showed a picture of the two of them ascending.

"Don't people sink in Mako?" Genesis asked dryly.

"Depends on the density, concentration, purity, additives, and other compositional factors," Sephiroth said. He noted everyone turning to stare at him but decided he did not want to touch on that more right now – he didn't need their pity.

On the screen, it faded to black again, and when it faded back in, they lay on the ruins of a structure of some kind, next to the lapping waves of a Mako pool (Sephiroth had to admit, the idea of a mako pool large enough to produce waves like that of an ocean – or at least a very large lake – did concern him). The rest of AVALANCHE had gathered around them, standing on the broken wood scattered everywhere.

'Yo! You alright?! Tifa?' Barrett asked.

Tifa responded with a groan and sat up slowly. Barrett just seemed relieved she came back, but immediately she asked for Cloud.

Barrett pointed towards where the blond lay, but said not to worry, that, 'He's a tough one.'

Tifa commented that while in the Lifestream, she saw the real Cloud… that she didn't find him, but he found himself.

"Don't be modest," Genesis scoffed. "If you hadn't been there, nothing would have happened."

Barrett just said he shouldn't have doubted; that she prevailed and was, 'Some kind of lady.'

Tifa laid back down, looking straight up and holding her stomach.

'People have so many things pent up inside themselves…' she said. 'So many things they can never forget. Strange… isn't it?'

Then she seemed to fall back into unconsciousness.

Barrett called after her, but the screen faded out to black.

"Before we continue," Angeal said suddenly, motioning for Sephiroth to pause the game, "Zack… are you alright?"

The younger teen didn't answer for several seconds, and when he finally did, it was with an ironic chuckle and a shake of his head.

"No. How can I be?" He rose and began to pace back and forth, running a hand through his spiky hair. "I find out that the company I work for – the company that runs the freaking world – is funding human experimentation – has been for decades. It comes back to bite them, hard, and takes out my three role models, one at a time, either due to mental or physical sickness – or both. So what do they do? They send me out to try and fix it. I get caught up in it, so they decide to experiment on me and my buddy for four years."

He took a deep breath and calmed himself before he continued. "From what I saw in the game, I risked everything to break Cloud out of that nightmare. The only other thing me-from-the-game could think about was getting back to my girlfriend in Midgar." He held up his hand to forestall any protests. "Yeah, I know, I know. But I— he was experimented on for years, just gonna say that again because I don't think I can say it enough. It was understandable that game me must not have been in his – my right mind."

Genesis raised a hand, as though to make a point. Sephiroth suspected either to make a barb, or to order Zack to stop referring to himself as the Game version. Angeal stopped him with a hand over his mouth. Genesis squawked indignantly but got the hint and said nothing else.

The younger teen didn't notice the exchange as he shook his head and breathed deeply again before continuing. "So I drag my comatose buddy half-way across the world only to… to…" he couldn't seem to go on. Fortunately, no one spoke, giving him the time he needed to gather himself. "And then I find out that said buddy was so screwed in the head he didn't remember any of it?! Not to mention this is supposed to start in two years or so! How am I supposed to be okay with any of this?!"

He turned to them, shuddering breaths of pained anger and one hand held out as if gesturing to the entire world.

For long seconds that may have turned into minutes, no one said anything.

Sephiroth really hated to make it worse.

"I did not wish to state it earlier, but… it may be less than two years," he finally said, looking away. That drew everyone's attention.

"What?" Genesis asked.

Sephiroth turned to gaze stonily at him. "Tifa said Cloud left Nibelheim about seven years ago in the game, give or take a couple of months. I am inclined to say closer to two and a half… but that may not be the case. It could be as little as a year and a half from now. I find it unlikely, but… possible. And that is a reality we must face."

He met each of their eyes; Genesis and Angeal knew him well enough to know that he wasn't finished, and Zack seemed to have picked up on that. He took a deep breath and looked back at the blank screen. "Cloud has been here at ShinRa since the new cadet class started, and maybe before that depending on when he arrived in Midgar. That could be anywhere from three months to five or six."

Horrified silence met his words.

"B-but," Zack finally started, suddenly looking pale, "that means the Degradation could happen at any time now! I-I mean, it's supposed to be after I made Second, but—"

"Pup," Angeal spoke up. "I've already had the paperwork for your promotion to second in for weeks. We're expecting the approval any day now."

For a moment, the old Zack returned, brightening up significantly. "Really?" he asked.

Angeal nodded. "You deserve it."

The boy beamed in pride and accomplishment for a precious few seconds, but then his face fell into horror again. "That… that means…"

"Yes," Sephiroth said. "Worst case scenario, we have a couple of weeks until the war starts up again. Best case scenario, we have a couple of months. We should know when signs of this 'Degradation' begin to show up. But one way or another, we have less than a year to figure out how to save ourselves – and by proxy, the world."

xXx

AN: Never let it be said that Sephiroth isn't just as much of a drama queen as Genesis in his own way.

Thank you to Imagination7413 and Quathis for their help on this!

Discord: discord. gg/TQxEBuhVjK (no spaces)