AN: So, since I only got one response regarding the amount of detail that goes into the trip to Wutai, I'm assuming no one else cares, so I'm going with somewhere between a little and moderate. That means maybe around 4 chapters' worth (give or take a bit), and not all at once, either. Don't like, then give an opinion.

Close Call

Genesis felt tired (beyond the normal) for some inexplicable reason. While he was stuck taking care of his chick—who still refused any of the names he tried—he'd managed to recall enough incidences in SOLDIER which had led to bad situations and unnecessary deaths to cause a better result. It wasn't just a random 'less deaths are better' result, it was that many of the ones he was saving were truly good men, the ones they needed to save to have a strong base of support in SOLDIER when the time came. Finding out some of them were now being attacked by an unknown assailant in the Slums on solo clears was not pleasant, but because they were returning safely, that wasn't a reason for him to be tired.

Though, he still had to ask who was attacking them—he'd never heard of such a thing last time, which he would have because he'd often taken solo Slum clears. It was good training in basic skills, after all, and at least it gave him something to do to use up his energy, which training drills did not do for him.

And yet now (today at least), he didn't seem to have any energy left.

Which was odd, especially since the chick was starting to eat on her own and he could rest longer as a result. She was also starting to sing, rather than just coo or chirp demandingly for food, and her random short bursts of 'song trills' often made him start snickering for their timing. It was especially funny when she did it at an appropriate time while he was reading LOVELESS, which he'd started doing—and facing—while mostly stuck in his apartment with her.

Setting aside the fact that he now realized the poem and play were separate things, and that the poem was a direct reference to both Chaos and Omega Theory and Jenova, the play was something else entirely. And he now had to wonder why he'd ever wanted to associate himself, Angeal, and Sephiroth with the three protagonists. There were a few superficial similarities, but none of them truly fit those roles...And admittedly, they weren't actually good roles to try to fit people to. Honor the way Angeal knew it was different from what was in the story, and he couldn't really see him taking any action described there unless his sole purpose was to save the people he cared about. Which was neither the premise nor the result in LOVELESS.

He'd truly been a child, and until he'd started reading all of those old notes in his books again, he'd never realized it, it had never really hit home just how distorted his view of the world had been back then.

A knock on the door came, and he paused for a moment before remembering Kunzel and Sierra had gone with Zack to meet Aeris again, so he'd have to get the door himself. With a faint sigh, he set his book and the chick on the coffee table (she seemed to love sleeping on his chest or belly, but he didn't think it would take long for her to get too big for that) and rose to get the door. And when he opened it, he had to just gap in surprise, especially when he saw a trembling, seven-year-old-ish Shelke and a fierce, twelve-year-old-ish Shalua with Kariya.

After blinking in surprise, he sighed and backed up, motioning them inside as he returned to the couch, calling back to them, "Help yourselves to whatever's in the fridge and cupboards."

"Why? Why just let us—?" Shalua began in a clearly suspicious tone.

"Didn't Kariya tell you the two of you are my younger sisters?" Genesis asked in a tired tone, then sighed as the chick immediately migrated back to his chest as soon as he sat and leaned back. "But Kariya—why did you bring them here?"

"Remember how one of yours realized the Restrictors who got away were going to start retrieving people? The President gave Veld a list, and he immediately began sending Turks to move people to Midgar. We were almost too late to save Shelke and Shalua—and yes, they were going to take both—and Shalyn died to give us the extra few moments we needed to get them out of there. It was close. And they haven't calmed down the whole time, so I thought—animals, babies especially, might help calm them down a bit. I really don't want to subject them to the Labs just to get medicine," Kariya replied, pointing to the chick on Genesis' chest. "Where's Kunzel?"

After a moment, Genesis blinked as he realized the man was talking about not giving Hojo ideas by showing him Shelke's genetics, and that he wasn't asking about Kunzel, he was asking about Sierra. "The boys went to the Slums to visit a friend, and I have no idea when they'll be back. I could ask Seph and Kal to join us with her fox? I think there's a few other pets around, too—I caught a raccoon trying to hijack some of my Materia one day. I think those are Turk pets?"

Kariya snorted in amusement and commented, "Yes, Hex and Sly. They're an interesting pair. Since supper has been our only real rest time in the last few days, we've gotten used to them a bit. Reno couldn't have found a better-matched pet, though. I wanted something calmer than those two, and the other two Turks who have pets tend to not let people see them. If the fox is calm, then maybe? I thought foxes were skittish, though..."

"Normal ones are," Genesis agreed as Shelke suddenly sat beside him and gathered the chick in her arms, cuddling the bird as she hid her face in its downy feathers and just cried. The chick chirped in alarm at being suddenly moved, then blinked at the girl a few times—and just settled there, apparently agreeable to waiting out the bout of emotion. Genesis reached over to gently rub Shelke's back as he told Kariya, "Akira—the fox—is trained to stay calm on a battlefield, though, and is nearly as intelligent as a human—Kal even often treats him like one. I've never seen a less jumpy animal. Well, except Sin."

"Who?" Kariya blinked.

"Nero brought it back from the north—a Shadow Monk. I'm not sure it's a 'pet', exactly, but it doesn't seem to mind behaving as long as it gets to eat Nero's void energy," Genesis answered in amusement. "Sin's not really companionable, though."

Shalua was still just standing sort of in the kitchen, watching all of them warily, and Genesis realized she was holding back her own feelings—probably for Shelke. Also, if they had just been attacked, she had just been shot to the top end of suspicion and paranoia. It wasn't a good combination, and probably would lead to something much worse if she couldn't be brought down off it soon.

He was reaching for his PHS to call Sephiroth when the door opened and Kunzel's familiar voice asked, "The Flower Girl said I was needed back here?" He then paused near the door as he saw Shalua, then turned to look for the source of the crying, finding Shelke. His brow quirked at Kariya's presence, but then he shut the door and asked Genesis, "What's going on?" Sierra started sniffing around Shalua's feet, startling her into looking down at the Coerl kitten in utter shock and amazement.

"These two girls are my younger sisters—who were only barely rescued on time," Genesis told him, and the younger man blinked in surprise before giving a nod.

"And...Why was I needed back here?" he asked.

Right then, Shalua stooped to pick up the kitten and cuddled it as she also, finally, wept, and Genesis pointed at the two dryly as he said, "Not you, Sierra. Since she goes where you go..."

Kunzel blinked, then asked, "Okay, so...Why is Sierra apparently so good with a stranger clinging to her?"

"Their...I guess our...mother just died to give them a chance to escape," Genesis answered, and Kunzel first blinked, then his eyes widened.

"Shiva," he breathed. "She senses the likeness to her..." He then paused and asked, "But this doesn't bother you, Genesis?"

Sighing, the red haired man pointed out, "Kunzel, I never knew my birth parents. I don't have a bond with them. I feel for the girls who just lost the mother they knew and loved, but I can't feel more without any sort of bond with her. Yes, it's sad—both parts—I just...don't have a tie that says anything more than a stranger died just now. Either way, the girls need to mourn, and they needed help to calm."

Again, Kunzel was silent for a few long moments, then asked, "How did the Flower Girl know?"

"She senses every death that happens," the older SOLDIER answered flatly, and both Kunzel's and Kariya's eyes widened at the words.

"Every—they're all personal to her?" Kunzel asked in a pained tone.

Lifting his shoulders in a shrug, Genesis offered, "I think it's more of a peripheral sense that someone died, and sometimes she can pick out who, or they leave behind messages. She learned young not to let it bother her overly much, and the only deaths which really hurt her are of people she personally knows, or if a lot of people die all at once. In this case, their mother probably told her they would need help, and apparently, my little chick and Sierra were going to be good for that, since they're still just babies themselves."

"Okay...I'm going to go get something for everyone to eat, then," Kunzel said, glanced one last time at Shalua and Sierra, then turned and left again.

A silence—other than the two girls crying—fell, then Kariya said, "Genesis, if you really don't feel a need to mourn, then maybe we could talk while they're both trying to sort themselves out a bit?"

"If you can't say it in front of them, then leave it for later," Genesis told him bluntly. "Because right now isn't the time to leave them without comfort—human comfort." Just the fact that a recently-terrified Shelke was letting him rub her back said a lot for how much she, at least, needed the human presence just then. "Now please show me you can be a father with the right priorities, not the wrong ones—because anything we would have to talk about is not the priority just now."

The man sighed faintly, then gave a wry smile as Shalua asked in a small voice, "What does that mean?"

Both men looked at her, seeing how she was still cuddling the kitten close to her face, but one confused and pained eye looked over Sierra's back at Kariya. The Turk rose and moved over to her, resting a hand on her shoulder as he said, "What Shalyn didn't have time to tell you was that she entrusted you to me because I'm your father. It wasn't that she trusted a random stranger—I'm the one who made sure you always had money to live on, and I'm the reason you're here right now. In more ways than one. It wasn't safe for me to be seen with you, otherwise I'd have been there, but it never stopped me from watching over you to the best of my ability. When we realized Shelke's name was on a very dangerous list, Veld was nice enough to send me personally to retrieve you to safety. Before you ask—Veld is my current boss."

Her tears went silent for a moment, then suddenly turned on full-force as she threw herself into his arms, only being aware enough of Sierra to not squish her, and the man accepted her into them. Genesis watched for a minute before feeling weight against his side and realizing Shelke had decided to curl up against him. While he grasped Shalua's switch, he wondered at Shelke's—until it clicked that she had also been holding back because Kariya was still a complete unknown to her. By Kariya's admission, they both now realized they were with family, and family was still 'safe' to them. So, he put his arm around the girl and let her cry herself out.

By the time Kunzel returned quietly, Kariya and Shalua had migrated to the other couch (Sierra was sleeping in Shalua's lap), and Shelke had fallen into an exhausted sleep against Genesis' side while the chick slept half on both of them. The young man said nothing, just put the food away and went to his room to amuse himself for awhile.

"Where are we going to stay now?" Shalua asked suddenly into the silence, sounding tired but determined to have an answer.

"We have a few options," Kariya told her. "But it may be better for you to rest, first, so you're alert to actually think about them later. For now, you have a place to stay overnight for sure, whether that's here or at my place. Kunzel—Sierra's owner—brought food back, so you can help yourself to whatever's in the fridge right now."

"Okay..." she agreed slowly, then looked at the two men with some suspicion as she asked, "Who's Kunzel, exactly?"

"My current mentee and one of my honorary brothers," Genesis answered in some amusement. "I have four of them right now, one older and the others younger. I trust them with my life, and with yours. I'm sure Weiss especially will be protective of Shelke."

That made Shalua blink. "Why?"

"The men who attacked and tried to kidnap you...Weiss was raised by them, and nearly killed by them," the red haired man told her plainly. She blinked again, but her expression was one of realization. "He's about your age, and he's seen what those people do to children. He also knew your sister's name was on a list to eventually land her there." The girl's eyes widened at that. "He'd never willingly let that stand."

After a long silence as Shalua processed the words, she then asked, "So what's with that list, and why did the President have it?"

Kariya released a long sigh. "There was a group called Deepground which the President had been building privately for some time. Even the Turks didn't know until the Restrictors walked out of a wall of the President's office while a Turk was there. The problem was, they started off by telling lies in front of a well-trained Turk and the SOLDIER General, resulting in a trip to their facility. That was where we found Weiss. Then, they decided to blow out the facility—while the President and all of us were still there."

Shalua's eyes went huge at the admission. "How are you still alive?" she gasped.

"Some Summons decided to lend us a hand," Kariya replied in faint amusement. "A good number of them. A Bahamut I've never seen before—a huge one—held up a good part of the ceiling, even. Titans built pillars, and so on. The other major problem was that blowing out the facility would have brought Midgar down, because the zone called Deepground is right below the central pillar and this building. That's why I think we got so much help—it was never for us, it was to prevent the mass quantity of death which would have happened if all of Midgar had fallen. That also gave them time to leave with their good little puppets."

Shalua actually looked pale at the admission. "And those ones who escaped are the ones who came after us."

"Yes," Kariya agreed. "So, Shelke's name had been on a list for some undefined future retrieval time, but she wasn't a priority target—her ability was for data manipulation, not for combat, so it wasn't an early necessity. But, the Restrictors already had that list when they left, and they didn't have a lot of people left, so it then stood to reason they'd start retrieving the people on it. Our saving grace was the President having it and being well aware of the fact that he didn't want to help grow what are now enemies to the population, including him."

Everyone was surprised when Shelke asked tearfully, "So I was always going to have those guys come after me sometime? There wasn't another way it could happen?"

Kariya sighed, but Genesis said flatly, "We had been hoping to have fixed enough by the time we felt it likely you'd have been taken that you wouldn't have been at all."

The man's gaze turned to him sharply as both girls asked in confusion, "What does that mean?"

Before Genesis could answer, Kunzel said, "Um, Genesis...I was just sent a photo I think you should see, and I don't think it can wait..." The others looked to see him at the hall entrance, holding his PHS in one hand. He then joined Genesis to turn the device so the older man could see the screen—and Genesis blinked in amazement, dawning realization, and horror. Then he realized Kunzel's hand was shaking and gripped it with his.

It was a photo taken in the Slums sometime around midday, obvious by the clarity of the image (any other time would have been dimmed by lesser levels of light under the Plate), and showed a gathering of many people. Some looked like AVALANCHE's first incarnation; one looked distinctly like how Fuhito had been described to him. Some looked like a modified version of Deepground, including the Restrictors. One looked like Heidegger, and one—the reason for Kunzel's shaking hand—looked like a very smug (and obviously now enhanced) Dante.

"Those look like the people who came after us!" Shelke gasped; her position let her see the image.

"How long ago was this taken? Not—when it was sent to you, when it was actually snapped," Genesis asked as he looked up at Kunzel.

"Um..." the young man's brow furrowed, then he pulled his PHS back and dropped the photo so he could check the message. "He said he'd taken it around fifteen minutes before he sent it—he didn't want to stop in their view to do that—so around twenty minutes ago? This is the Sector One Slums."

"Kariya, have you got Veld's number so the photo can go right to him?" Genesis asked, looking over at the man. "Because it looks like we have some terrorists to route—including Heidegger now, apparently."

"Wait, what?" Kariya blinked in surprise, releasing Shalua and rising to look at the image. He then paled and took the device to type in the necessary address. "Send it there, and tell him I gave you his direct line. Also make sure you note the time of the photo and the location. I'm probably going to have to go deal with that soon..."

"By yourself?" Shelke asked apprehensively.

"No, not at all," Kariya answered in amusement. "I'm sure other Turks and SOLDIERs will be joining me. I'm just very good for managing crowds, so it's unlikely they'd let me sit it out. The only ones currently guaranteed to be staying here will be Genesis and Kunzel, them because of their new—and baby—pets."

As Kunzel was composing the message, Kariya was sent a notice to report back to the office, causing him a momentary lack of balance. "Don't tell me...We'll have to split our forces..." he sighed. "Because he couldn't be asking for me due to Kunzel's message—that hasn't been sent yet."

The others blinked in surprise, but Kariya ruffled Shalua's hair and headed out, even as Kunzel sent the message and photo to Veld. "What now?" Kunzel asked into the resulting silence.

"Now, you sit here and start getting to know your honorary sisters, honorary little brother," Genesis answered in vague amusement, and Shelke actually giggled faintly.

An amused Kunzel agreed, "Fair enough," and sat down to join them. Discussion started slowly, and mostly with the girls reminiscing of home.

MB

Cloud had been sent to the Labs to get some parts needed in Weapons (apparently a very specialized type of computer chip, but he wasn't sure why Science had it rather than Urban Development), but didn't really want to walk in the front door, so once he hit floor fifty-nine, he walked up the stairs from there. As he got to the landing on sixty-four, a sudden rush of monsters knocked him flat, and he only really had enough time to pull his combat star in front of him like a shield as he began mentally arranging a plan of attack—only to find that they were bypassing him with shockingly little damage. He was also hearing doors bursting open below, and screams on lower floors.

Wait, what?

Then it hit him—the only place above him which could have had so many monsters was the Science Department Labs. They'd just had a break-out.

"Fuck," he muttered, then rose and pulled out his PHS to quickly send to Veld a short message, Lab break-out, monsters in building proper. Hunting starting from Security Check-point.

Then, he chose a single blade for one hand and headed after the monsters, star in one hand and the blade in the other. From where he was, he knew the first place they'd easily get into the building was fifty-nine (the Security Check-point), so he started there—the door was open, and he knew he'd closed it when he'd headed up, so it was obvious he'd find them on that floor. Hopefully, others would be on the hunt soon, too, but his priority was damage control, which meant killing the rampant monsters.

Still, that rush past him puzzled him. It was like...they had been trying to get away? Then, that begged the question of what they'd been trying to get away from, and how much damage they would do in the process. Well, on a more logical level, if there was a replica Sephiroth in the Labs who was The Nightmare, they could well have been trying to get away from him. Until they calmed, damage to people would probably be minimal, but he didn't think it would take long for them to start attacking.

Sure enough, by the time he found the first one, it had killed one of the guards on fifty-nine and backed a wounded one into a corner without a weapon. Without thinking, he jumped forward and sliced off the monster's head, leaving the man in the corner to stare in shock for a moment before offering a pained thanks. Cloud cast healing and life spells—the other guard turned out to be intact enough to revive, and had only died recently. Giving a nod to the man in the corner, he turned to look for more of them. On that floor, he found two others, which he quickly eliminated.

As he arrived back at the stairs, he got a notice from Veld to say others would join him shortly and asking for what he'd done. Since no danger was imminent there, he paused to inform the man they'd headed down from the top, and that he'd cleared fifty-nine, the highest floor they could have gotten on to. Veld's reply told him to go to fifty-eight, then skip the next six floors. He'd update him on his next floor once he'd cleared both of those.

With a heart-felt sigh, Cloud knew he wouldn't get back to Weapons any time soon, so sent a message to Scarlet to tell her she'd have to wait—the monster break-out meant he had to do some extermination first. She was agreeable and just asked him to be careful and come back safely.

At her reply message, the boy smiled faintly. As strange as it was for such wishes to come from her, he knew the fact that she'd said it at all meant it was heart-felt. He was really beginning to hope she'd choose to keep her caring this time, and to trust the help she had at her fingertips now.

Putting his PHS away, Cloud returned to the task at hand—Lab monster extermination.