Me: Here's the new chapter I promised. I hope this double update will pacify some of your for now and with knowledge that I am indeed working on chapter 14! Enjoy guys!

The trees and brush whipped past the pair as Cloud steered them confidently through the dense Wutian jungle. Sephiroth still had his arms wrapped tightly around the blonde's waist, his face partially buried in the shorter man's shoulder. After Cloud sent them flying around yet another tree, close enough to touch the bark, Sephiroth finally had enough. Lifting his head from the blonde's shoulder he had a brief moment of vertigo as the world flashed past him before shaking his head slightly the man turned to Cloud.

"Is this really necessary?" he called over both the rushing wind and the roar of the bike.

"Is what really necessary?" the blond shouted back as he dodged yet another tree while getting far too close for the General's comfort.

"The excessive speed and the constant close call swerving around obstacles," the General shouted back, tightening his arm around the blonde at a particularly sharp turn.

Cloud didn't respond for a few moments as he dodged through a large copse of trees, "Simple. This is a race and if I were to take a more direct path to the harbor I would have to cut my way through the jungle. Trying to cut our way though is time consuming and very slow. It might actually cost us the race considering that not only would it take time to do the actual cutting we could attract a mass multitude of monsters in our passing, something else that would slow us down. I have absolutely no intention of losing. Especially after Tseng insulted Fenrir like that."

Wide green eyes stared at the back of the blonde's head for a few incredulous seconds. The look didn't last long before both were forced to dodge a low hanging branch. Sephiroth was about to say something else when a bright light assaulted his eyes. Once again he found his face pressed against the other man's back as his eyes tried to adjust. When he was able to look up again without going blind he found that they had left the jungle behind and were now racing across the plains. Taking a surreptitious glance around he could not find a trace of the Turk's helicopter.

"Relax," Cloud said, seeming to read the General's mind, as he pointed off to their right and up. "They are right there."

Sephiroth turned his head in the appointed direction after a moment's hesitation. Sure enough there was the chopper, just now crossing the tree line. They had been forced to fly low and slow because despite the victory they were still in enemy territory. Now that they were out in the open, however, they pushed the speed. In no time at all they were right above Cloud and Sephiroth. Cloud took a moment to flip the pilot (Reno) the bird before leaning back over the controls. With a quiet word to Sephiroth the blond hit the gas. Sephiroth barely had time to tighten his hold before Fenrir shot forward.

Almost like the had been launched from a cannon the bike with its two passengers raced across the ground. Even at the much higher rate of speed Cloud still had perfect control of the massive, powerful vehicle. Faintly Sephiroth could hear Reno cussing over the comm-system as the black bike became merely a black speck on the horizon. The man was distracted from the cursing Turk by a faint, but still noticeable, tremor in the blonde's body. Before Sephiroth could say something about it the blond threw back his head and laughed. It was so surprising that the larger man nearly lost his grip on the smaller. Thankfully Cloud was quick enough to catch the stunned man's wrists before he slipped too far.

"Everything OK?" he shouted as he pulled Sephiroth's long arms back around his waist, only letting go after the larger man regained his grip.

Sephiroth didn't reply for a few second but when he did the only way Cloud was able to hear him was because of his enhanced hearing, "I have never heard you laugh before. Not like that anyway, I mean."

Cloud was silent for a few seconds before replying, "You haven't heard me laugh like that because I haven't really had something to laugh like that about. Riding like this is my one way of being truly free. This is as close to escaping the rest of the world as I can get."

Sephiroth went quiet at that, just letting the blonde's words settle in his head. There was really no denying them anyway. At this rate of speed and their current location it was almost as if the rest of the world didn't even exist, as if they were the only two people in the world. Carefully he tightened his arms around the shorter man's waist before leaning forward to rest his chin on Cloud's right shoulder. Cloud tensed for a moment but when Sephiroth made no other moves he relaxed. He just maintained their current course, trying his damnedest not to think too hard about the body pressed against his back and the head resting on his shoulder. It was probably bad luck for him to hope that the harbor was closer than it was but it didn't stop him from trying.

-With Zack and Angeal-

Shortly after Sephiroth and Cloud left Zack managed to pry himself away from Angeal. His mentor let him pull back but didn't release him completely. They both stared at each other for a few second before Zack finally worked up the courage to speak.

"What happened? Why did you leave?" he asked, voice soft and shaking.

"I-," Angeal trailed off, looking away slightly and just barely remembering what he heard Cloud tell Sephiroth. "I missed one of the copies. It escaped into the jungle and I followed it. I was more concerned with stopping it and didn't really think about what it would look like if you to come back here. I'm just lucky Cloud decided to come after me thinking I might need help."

Zack nodded at the older man's words. They were all lucky Cloud thought Angeal might need backup. Had he not Sephiroth might have reported Angeal to be a traitor. The Second wasn't entirely sure he could live with having to fight him mentor in the future. Shaking his head to dismiss the thoughts he pulled Angeal back in for another bone crushing hug. They released each other after a few more seconds before stepping back. Zack gave his mentor a brilliant smile which Angeal was helpless to return.

"We should head back to camp, shouldn't we?" Zack asked gesturing with his shoulder in the direction that Sephiroth and Cloud disappeared in.

Angeal just nodded, not really trusting his voice, before heading off in the appointed direction with one arm around Zack's shoulders. The pair walked back along the trail toward the camp. By the time they arrived the camp was a flurry of activity and they could faintly hear to the loud roar of an engine fading into the distance. Angela sent Zack off to help gather up the gear while he went to find Lazard. The blond was in the command tent, trying to get a route narrowed down to get everyone to the harbor. Looking around the 1st was surprised to not see Sephiroth in the middle of everything as well.

"Have I missed something big? Or did Sephiroth vanish?" Angeal asked walking over to try and help the SOLDIER director.

"The only thing you missed was Cloud challenging the Turks to a race. Sephiroth and a 2nd by the name of Rayes are the two referees to make sure there is no cheating," Lazard replied without missing a beat. "I just hope that when one of them gets there they remember to arrange overseas passage for the rest of us."

"Is that really a good idea? Having all of those people missing right now?" Angeal asked giving the Director a concerned look.

"Normally I would say yes but considering what the stakes are I am more than willing to overlook it," the blond replied with a small shrug. "Though that is not stopping me from insisting that we move out sooner rather than later."

Angeal nodded, going back to his work before looking back up at the other man, "What are the stakes?"

"One unconditional favor to be called in at any time."