Another one shot I know, working through some things. Should have a few updates for my chapter fics here soon. I just can't seem to stay focused long enough to finish them XD - DHT

Genesis sat shaking with his phone in the palm of his hand. He managed to bring his thumb up enough to push the #3 on his dialpad, speed dial for one Angeal Hewley.

It rang 5 times as Genesis managed to get the phone to his ear, just in time hear Angeal's rich voice filter through the phone, along with a ton of background noise. "Genesis, what's going on?" Another voice followed close behind it. "Angeal hurry up its about to start!"

"I need to talk to you." Genesis stated, his voice quavering a bit, though he forced himself to sound relaxed, calm, even though the ginger was anything but.

"Can it wait? I promised Zack I'd take him to the latest Zombie flick if he did well on his training mission, and he ace'd it. It's about to start." Angeal pleaded, and Genesis could hear the puppy in the back ground as his grip on the phone tightened.

"It's alright, nothing important." he about laughed, "I understand." he repeated as a shaky breath left his mouth. At that point however Zack hollered at his mentor again, causing him to miss the tone in his friend's voice.

"Thanks I'll give you a call in the morning.' Angeal declared before the line went dead.

Genesis just sat on his couch, staring at his phone. At the moment he could barely hold on to the thing. He needed someone anyone at this point, so he did the last thing he ever thought he'd do. He pushed #2 for Sephiroth .

"Genesis I can't talk right now." Sephiroth barked in the phone.

"Please." it was word the commander didn't often use. "I need-"

"I'm the middle of mission, if you need something call Angeal." Sephiroth cut him off, unable to determine the pleading tone in his friend's voice, and hung up the phone.

Tears formed in the ginger's eyes at the second dismissal from his friends in less than 5 minutes as a cry of pain left his lips. His body twisted up as his muscles clenched all up and down his back. Sweat had already started to form on his body. When the attack was over he simply stood walking over to his dining room table, where a picture of the three of them sat next to a bowl of Banora Whites. He clutched the table as if it were a lifeline."I'm dying." he breathed out, looking at the picture, but there was no one there to listen.

Sephiroth's fist tighten around Masamune as he took down his latest enemy. Monsters encroaching a bit too close to the walls of Midgar. His PHS rang again. He ignored it for a moment as his massive sword plunged into the heart of another twisted creature. With a growl he pulled it out already knowing who it was thanks to the man's distinct ringtone. " This better be good, I told you I'm on a mission." the General snapped.

But in response all he heard was heaving breathing. "Genesis?" he asked, swinging the sword one handed, cutting deeply in the shoulder of another attacker.

"Answer me, or I'm hanging up." Sephiroth insisted though he was beginning to worry.

The breathing continued, and the General really didn't have time for this as two more of the creatures made their way towards him. "This had better not be like your last emergency" The ginger had thrown a fit over being forced to fill in for the normal materia instructor for a week. "I'll finish as soon as I can" with that he hung up, intent on finishing his work.

It was late, after 2 am when Angeal made his way back to the apartment he shared with his student. The raven had to admit that it had been ages since he'd had that much fun. Genesis preferred 'classics' like Loveless, and Sephiroth...well he preferred his entertainment to make sense. Something like a simple Zombie survival movie was lost on his best friends. Zack on the other hand had ate it up, and been rather surprised that his mentor had enjoyed it so much.

Things were changing, Angeal wasn't fool enough not to see it. Zack had started looking at him when he'd though thought his mentor wasn't aware. Despite his honor, Angeal was hard pressed to say he minded. There was a lifeblood in Zack he'd almost become addicted too.

However two am when said student was leaning on him for support because he was exhausted wasn't the time to be thinking about them.

Angeal slipped his keycard into the slot outside his door, watching the light turn green and the door click open. He was about to step inside when he watched Sephiroth round the corner. The commander gave a friendly wave as Zack headed on inside. It was obvious that the General had just got back from a mission, even if the grim never seemed to stick to him.

The raven expected Sephiroth to acknowledge his presence before moving on to his own apartment when the man stopped right in front of him. "Do you know what Genesis wanted?" he asked with a neutral tone.

Angeal looked at him for a moment, almost forgetting the earlier phone call. "No" he shook his head. "He called around 10 right before Zack and I headed into the movies. I told him I'd call him in the morning."

Sephiroth crossed his arms thinking for a moment. "He called me in the middle of my mission, he said he needed something and I told him to call you. I received another call around midnight but he never said anything, though I could hear him breathing."

The raven's features molding into a look of concern. "We should check on him." he stated before turning his head into his apartment. He was about to tell Zack to head to bed, when he realized that his student was already passed out on the couch. With that he shut his door, intending to put Zack to bed properly after he'd checked on Genesis.

Sephiroth lead the trek to Genesis's door, and knocked, there was no movement on the other side, and the General thought that perhaps his friend had just gone to bed, content to wait to find out the issue in the morning when something hit his nose. "That's blood." he muttered, as he slid his own keycard opening Genesis's door, nearly ripping it from its hinges in his haste.

Angeal and Sephiroth both gasped at the sight. There was blood and feathers everywhere as Genesis lay face down on the floor next to his dining room table. A pool of his own blood dripped down his back, from a large tear in his signature red coat. The blood had already started to thicken and dry as his hair matted to the side of his head. In his hand was his phone, Sephiroth's number the last called. Next to him was the shattered picture of the three of them.

"Gaia." Angeal breathed before he was immediately on the phone with the medics. "Yes we have an emergence on the Officer Floor, Genesis Rhapsodos's apartment and no it is not a fire. He's down, bleeding everywhere. No I didn't know what happened." came the man's rapid fire responses.

Sephiroth was on the floor next to his friend, feeling for a pulse to make sure the man was at least still alive. Relief filled him when he felt the faint beating beneath his finger tips, but Genesis was far too cold especially for a man filled with fire. The General tried to cast a cure spell on the injured ginger but it seemed to do nothing.

Angeal hung up with the operator as soon as they promised to send someone immediately. Grief was clear on his face, Genesis had needed him, and he'd not been there. All for what? Some movie? At least Sephiroth had been on an actual mission."What have I done Sephiroth?"

"Don't blame yourself, it won't help him, and we had no way to know his problem was this serious. Especially with his track record. He's still alive and that's what matters." He muttered, but the failed cured spell had disturbed him. While he wasn't a 'master' as Genesis proclaimed to be, and he didn't use it often, he certainly knew how to use the crystals, and was certain the spell had gone off fine.

Angeal knelt down next to Genesis as well, and time seemed to freeze as they waited for the emergency medical team. His face had gone lax, and the ginger who was fair skinned to begin with looked paper white, a strong contrast to the blood. There job meant that this had always been a possibility. That they would find each other critically injured, or dead . But that scenario had always played out on the battlefield, not the safety of their home.

That still left the question of what exactly happened?

There was no way to answer that now, especially when the medics had finally arrived. Angeal and Sephiroth were gently pushed to the side as the paramedics took over Genesis's care. In almost a blur they had the man out the door, leaving even more devastation in their wake in the form of discarded medical equipment.

Without a word Sephiroth followed not caring if it was standard procedure or not, Angeal close behind him. "Sirs, I'm going to have to ask you to stay." one of the paramedic asked them, a bit of fear lacing his voice.

"No" was all Sephiroth gave as a response and continued his course anyway.

It wasn't until they reacted the hospital wing and Genesis was taken into a trauma room that Sephiroth finally backed off. Even then he stood just outside the room, as Angeal who had trailed a bit further behind came to stand beside him.

"What do you think happened?" Angeal finally voiced the question, and it wasn't just an idle one. Sephiroth was a military genius and if anyone could put the pieces together it would be him.

The General closed his eyes for a moment. Shoving down his own young, yet warring emotions, so that he could think logically. It was an important question after all. "The easy answer is that something attacked him, with all the feathers and the blood. But there wasn't really a sign of a struggle, no forced entry, and there were hours between when he first tried to contact us and the last phone call I received. And there were no battle sounds coming from his side of the phone."

For once in his life Sephiroth was truly at a loss over the scenario. "I can't think of anything that makes sense of what we found. The wound on his back couldn't possibly be self inflicted. I have no idea where the feathers came from, and it was obvious he was the only one that had been in there. In the end we'll have to ask him."

Angeal just sighed and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. They were both tired, even if Sephiroth wasn't showing it, but neither of them could sleep right now.

An hour passed with not much more being said between friends. Angeal had started to pace, even as Sephiroth didn't move. The raven had thought to call Hollander, their personal doctor, when he realized the man was gone. There had been some huge conference in Costa del Sol that he had Professor Hojo were attending. Of all the times for the man to be gone.

The doors that lead back to Genesis opened and out came a man dressed in scrubs. He pulled the mask over his face down and stopped right in front of Angeal and Sephiroth. "Are you the two men that came in with Commander Rhapsodos?" he already knew the answer but it was polite to ask anyway.

"Yes doctor." Angeal answered for them as Sephiroth simply looked at the man.

"I'm Dr Raste." The man stated "I've been taking care of him, he's stable now, the SOLDIER healing process seems to have closed the wounds he sustained, but he's lost a lot of blood. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, we have plenty of reserve stores, but the mako concentration in his blood is to high even for normal SOLDIER's. His body is just rejecting what we've given him."

"My blood should be fine then." Sephiroth immediately volunteered.

The doctor nodded in approval. "Good, I was hoping you would, your friend too, he requires more blood then I feel comfortable taking from one person."

"Of course." Was Angeal's swift response as he took a step closer to the doctor.

"Follow me." Dr. Raste requested, as he turned and headed back through the doors.

Sephiroth sat in Genesis's room. It had been three days since the 'incident.' and while the man's color had started to come back , he still sat a bit lifeless in the bed. His chest was wrapped tightly in bandages, along with his head where he had hit it falling. He had an IV, and several monitors hooked up to him, and it was a disturbing reminder to the General of the labs he so hated.

Angeal had gone to check on Zack and get some rest, but Sephiroth barely left his friend's side. He'd requested temporary leave for at least a week, pending longer given Genesis's condition. The company hadn't liked it but he'd never taken a vacation in over 10 years with the company, and they couldn't deny him.

He'd been called a hypocrite by Angeal. Telling him not to feel guilty when Sephiroth's actions proved how he felt. The General had simply looked at his friend and told him while he didn't feel guilty for the circumstances as they were, now that he knew how much Genesis needed them, he wasn't going to leave him alone until it was over.

The raven had smiled at Sephiroth after that, the entire concept of friendship and the sacrifices that it could entail had been so lost on the General when they had first met that Angeal often wondered if the man would ever truly understand it. The fact that it had taken this horrible event to prove how much Sephiroth did comprehend made the moment bittersweet however. And as catlike mako eyes hovered over Genesis's still form, Angeal had to wonder if there wasn't something even more brewing behind them.

The time he currently had to himself was leaving the General to ponder just that same question himself. Everything he displayed on the outside had been calm, he had to stay that way, panic would have only made the situation worse and put Genesis's life in danger. The truth was however that Sephiroth's heart had nearly stopped beating at the site of the ginger laying on the floor.

There was a fire in Genesis that he had come to crave. Emotions that had been such a mystery for him his whole life seemed to flow freely from the vibrant man, and further more the ginger had been able to draw forth his own deep and underdeveloped feelings. If asked, Sephiroth would admit that he had never felt truly alive until he'd met Genesis Rhapsodos.

To see the man's own life drained from him disturbed the General to his very core, and he swore that he would do whatever it took to restore the man to his former glory. Sephiroth couldn't lose this man.

Love wasn't something the General yet understood, no one had fully explained the concept to him. Friendship alone seemed like such a feat for him. He'd heard the term yes. Many of the men who served under him had 'loved ones' spouses and children. A family. Sephiroth had remembered asking one of the men why these people were so important to them.

The answer had surprised and intrigued him. 'They are what makes life worth living.'

Did that mean he was in love with Genesis? He hadn't really had a life before the man, and at this moment when the ginger was laying so still in bed he didn't feel much like continuing with it.

His solitude was interrupted however as the door opened revealing Angeal holding to cups of coffee. The raven passed a cup to Sephiroth before taking a seat. "You should really go get something to eat." he offered.

"Hmm." Was all conformation that Sephiroth had indeed heard the other man. There was much more then food on his mind at the moment however.

"Am I in love with Genesis, Angeal?" he asked still staring at the ginger.

The question caught the other man off guard as he nearly dropped his own cup of coffee. "In love with Genesis?" he clarified making sure he had heard it right. It wasn't as if he hadn't contemplated the idea that Sephiroth might have feelings for the other man. It's just that he never expected to hear the question from him.

Sephiroth just glanced at Angeal and nodded before looking back to Genesis.

"Honestly?" the commander started looking down at his cup of coffee. He had to be careful with what he said. He wasn't having this conversation with Genesis or Zack. "I can't say for sure, I have suspected that you might care for him a bit more then what is defined by friendship. But truthfully only you can answer the question of how deep that goes. What caused you too ask?" If he knew a bit more about what was driving the inquiry he might be able to offer some more advice.

Sephiroth's attention again turned to Angeal as he answered the question. "I was thinking about him, and what some of the men said before about their loved ones, and how they make life worth living. I realized that Genesis is the only reason I live my life." It was true, Genesis drove him in every aspect of his life, personal and professional both.

Angeal nearly gasped at the admission, he wondered if Sephiroth realized how deeply personal of an admission that was. "Sephiroth." he muttered still not exactly sure what to say. "You need to talk to Genesis when he wakes up. "

"Will he know the answer?" The General's eyes slid once again to man in question.

Angeal paused for a moment, as if unsure of whether or not he should continue. "He can help you figure it out. I know he cares deeply for you too. "

An unknown emotion filled Sephiroth with Angeal's words but he didn't get much of a chance to dwell on it as another voice, so soft, filled the room.

"You promised never to tell." It was horse and dry, but a moment later blue mako eyes fluttered open and once again Sephiroth thought his heart might just stop. "But just this once I think I can forgive you for breaking a promise."

The General was at Genesis's bedside in a moment and Angeal backed off a bit. Sephiroth handed Genesis a glass of water sitting at this bedside and the man drank it down like his life depended on. "How do you feel."

"Like I got hit by a truck, but better than I have in a long time." Genesis admitted as he reached out one of his hands to take Sephiroth's. The other man didn't protest, and simply wound his fingers around the ginger's.

"I'm sorry." Came the quiet apology. "If I had known-"

Genesis just cut him off. "You would have if I hadn't waited so damn long to tell you something was wrong."

"What happened Genesis?" Angeal asked moving a bit closer.

The ginger's demeanor fell a bit with the question. "I thought I was dying." he breathed out, as two pair of eyes went wide. "I can't remember everything clearly now, just pain and a lot of it." The hand in Sephiroth's tightened as he looked down. "I've been sick for months, Hollander tried to help, but he said my condition is terminal."

"Terminal?" Angeal questioned out of shock.

Sephiroth however just looked at the ginger in thought. "You're fine, the doctor who's been treating you said so himself. They did extensive blood testing trying to find out what happened to you. "

It was Genesis turn to look at his friends in shock. "But I've been seeing Hollander for months, he showed me the blood work himself, my body's been attacking itself. I need to talk to him."

"He won't be back for a few days, he's still at the conference." Angeal explained.

"Then who's been treating me?" Genesis asked quickly looking as though he wanted to get out of his bed. His mind was racing, how had some random doctor cured him of something he didn't know was there, if Hollander had been trying for months with no success?

"Doctor Raste." Sephiroth replied, placing a hand on Genesis's chest, and ending any idea the ginger might of had about getting up.

"Wow." Genesis laughed. "I think I did die, either that or I'm still unconscious. " It seemed so ridiculous, waking up to hearing Sephiroth talk about how he might have feelings for him, and then finding out that the illness he thought would kill him was mysteriously gone. Though he would hold out a bit on that until he could talk to Hollander. But he wasn't sure how anyone could have missed what was happening to him in the blood tests.

"You are most assuredly awake and not dead." Sephiroth declared, still holding Genesis's hand.

A laugh left Genesis's mouth, he was still a bit weak, but the idea that he was cured was hard to deny when he really did feel wonderful. The death that seemed to be clinging to him was gone. "That's good, because it seems I now have a lot to look forward too." a smile graced his features as he spoke, and eyes swept upward to look up at Sephiroth.

He'd felt so alone, so abandoned in his apartment that night, but now...now he felt like the world was his to do with what he pleased.