A/N: Surprise! =D

I haven't written this story in so long that it simply isn't funny any more. I'm really sorry for the... 9 month delay [NINE MONTHS OH MY GOSH] but at least it's here, right? And I even deliberately made sure it was slightly longer than the last chapter because I knew you'd be wanting more to read since it's been so long. So I hope you enjoy this because I'd also like to announce:

I have a renewed feeling of excitement for this story and there is a lot of goodness to come =]

When Genesis stopped the truck just outside Nibelheim, everyone stared in surprise. The town that most of them remembered as a burning rubble from the day that Sephiroth had first lost his mind was thriving with life once again. As they piled out of the truck, they couldn't stop looking around at all the people that moved around calmly, as if nothing had ever happened to wreck their tranquil life. All of the houses had been rebuilt and it all looked brand new.

"I don't think we're gonna find Sephiroth anywhere around here," Zack said with a slight frown. "It certainly doesn't look like he's been around for a while."

"We should still look," Genesis said. "Just in case."

"Yeah." Zack took hold of Rufus' wheelchair and moved towards the town slightly before stopping again. "Is that..."

"What?" Cissnei asked, stepping up beside him and trying to see what he was looking at.

"Over there," Zack murmured, letting go of the wheelchair and walking forward more without it. He squinted slightly, drawing his eyebrows together as he stared. "It's... Angeal!"

Ignoring everyone's exclamations of questions, Zack suddenly ran off into the town by himself like a bullet. It was obvious he was heading somewhere in particular but none of the others were quite sure whether to take his words seriously or not. Hadn't Angeal been killed in the fight between all the other SOLDIERs when their mako was tainted by Hojo?

"I'll go after him," Cissnei suggested, beginning to take a step forward. Genesis reached out a put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"No," he said as he shook his head firmly. "I'll go."

Cissnei frowned, wondering why Genesis sounded so adamant, but nodded and allowed him to move ahead instead of her. She and the others watched him disappear into the town the way that Zack had gone and waited in silence for a moment, unsure of what to do or say now.

"Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?" Reno asked after a while.

"Angeal! Angeal, it's me! Zack!"

Zack darted around people, his eyes fixed on the sight of his former mentor. He could see the man turning, confused as to who was calling his name. He had his wing out behind him and was tense, but as soon as he finally saw Zack hurtling towards him his mouth fell open and he gasped.

"Zack?"

Zack promptly slammed into Angeal, hugging him tightly before leaping back and shaking his head continusously.

"I thought you were dead! I thought you died! But you're alive! How are you alive? This is so awesome!"

Angeal laughed and patted Zack's shoulder affectionately.

"I never went back to ShinRa," Angeal explained with a shrug. "Does that explain your question?"

"Oh, of course! So you were never exposed to the poisoned mako?" Zack asked to clarify.

"Exactly," Angeal nodded. "But what are you doing here now, after so long? Where have you been?"

"After the fight with Sephiroth all those years ago, Cloud and I were taken to be tested on by Hojo. I broke us out and we had to go on the run. You'll never believe it but Reno helped us escape and hide! It took us a while to figure out ShinRa had collapsed but then we didn't have to hide any more." Zack grinned.

"Hojo tested on you?" Angeal asked, horrified.

"Not much," Zack shrugged. "Although Cloud did get pretty bad mako poisoning afterwards since he'd never been exposed to it before."

"How is that kid?" Angeal asked.

"Kid?" Zack laughed. "He's definitely not a kid any more, Angeal!"

"Wow," Angeal frowned. "I wonder what he looks like now. I can't believe it's been so long since everything that happened. And I must say, Zack, you do look a lot more grown up than you did before."

"Hey! Is that a compliment or an insult?" Zack whined.

Laughing, Angeal said, "Take it as a compliment."

"Angeal."

Turning, Angeal's eyes almost popped out of his head as he stared at the man before him. Genesis, his old friend? But what-

"What are you doing here?" Angeal asked harshly, clenching his hands into fists at his sides.

"That's an interesting way to greet a friend, Angeal," Genesis mused.

"Not when it's a friend who betrayed me," Angeal retorted. "So are you going to tell me what you're doing here?"

"Whoa," Zack held his hands up. "Angeal, he's with me."

Shocked, Angeal asked, "What did you tell him in order to get him to go along with you?"

"The truth," Genesis shrugged. "That I want to unlock the true meaning of LOVELESS."

"Is that all you told him?" Angeal asked.

"What is going on?" Zack asked, clueless as he glanced between them. They ignored his question.

"They didn't ask for anything more," Genesis shrugged with a smirk.

"They?"

Genesis folded his arms and nodded. "Zack isn't by himself, you know."

Angeal turned away from him and finally gave Zack his attention again. Zack looked like he was about to burst and exhaled loudly when Angeal looked at him.

"Yes," Zack said sarcastically. "I'm still here."

"Zack," Angeal drew his eyebrows together in a frown. "Who came with you?"

"Oh, um," Zack tilted his head, thinking. "Cissnei, Reno and Rude came since we met up with Rufus and that's how we found Genesis. So yeah, Rufus came as well. That's about it, really. We left Tifa and Aerith at Seventh Heaven – erm, that's Tifa's bar in case you didn't know. And Cloud's gone off looking for a cure for geostigma. Have you heard about that yet?"

Angeal looked deeply thoughtful when Zack finally stopped speaking and he didn't respond right away.

Finally, he said, "Yeah, I've heard of geostigma. A couple of people here in Nibelheim got it once."

"Sorry to hear that," Zack said softly, looking down at the ground awkwardly.

"What?" Angeal asked with a light laugh. "You make it sound like someone died. I only said someone got sick."

Zack froze and slowly lifted his head to look at Angeal, not sure if he could trust his ears right now. Surely he had misheard his friend?

"What do you mean they only got sick? Do you mean they still have the stigma now?" Zack asked. Now that he thought about it, he figured that had to be what Angeal had meant. That they hadn't died yet because they still had the disease.

"No," Angeal shook his head. "They recovered. Why?"

Zack turned to look at Genesis, eyes wide and wanting to see how the other man was reacting to this information. Genesis appeared slightly thoughtful, but other than that his expression had hardly changed at all.

"This is... like..."

"You said Cloud had gone to look for a cure for the geostigma, yes?" Angeal asked.

"Yes!" Zack exclaimed, nodding his head firmly. He was beginning to think Cloud definitely should have come with them instead of looking for a cure on his own. What if there was a cure here, right in his old home town?

"I hope he finds one," Angeal said.

"Okay, stop!" Zack said, yelling in frustration. "You're not making any sense!"

"How am I not making sense?" Angeal frowned.

"If someone gets geostigma, they die!" Zack snapped. "So how can you tell me that some people here in Nibelheim got it, but overcame it?"

Angeal didn't speak for a moment, apparently as surprised as Zack was at this point.

"I don't know," Angeal shook his head. "I didn't know that people died from it. We haven't really had much contact with anyone outside of Nibelheim ever since it was burnt down."

"Great," Zack sighed. "So you don't know how they survived but there's now a definite chance you've got a cure around here. How on earth did the people here in Nibelheim get over it, do you remember?"

Angeal scratched his head and shrugged vaguely. "I remember some of them got really sick one day and everyone pitched in trying to help them get better. We just tried to make them more comfortable and made sure to keep their wounds clean. Apart from slight pain, they seemed fine. And a couple days later they recovered without a problem."

"You didn't use anything only native to Nibelheim on the wounds?" Zack asked.

"No," Angeal said.

"Well, this is definitely a mystery!" Zack said, putting his hands on his hips. "I just wish Cloud had come with us, now."

"I'm sorry I don't know any more," Angeal said. "I honestly had no idea it was a deadly disease."

"It's okay, we'll figure something out," Zack waved it off with a sigh. "But why exactly are you still here? I remember you flying off that day, so why did you return?"

"I didn't go far," Angeal explained. "I knew I couldn't leave you all by yourselves in case something went really badly. But when I saw Genesis leave I figured things would settle down again."

"Things most certainly did not," Zack rolled his eyes.

"Okay," Angeal folded his arms. "Looks like you have even more explaining to do. What happened when Genesis left?"

"Yes, what did happen? I never found out," Genesis piped up, suddenly interested in what Zack had to say.

Taking a deep breath, Zack began to fill them in on what had happened with Sephiroth talking about mother and then how Cloud had done everything he could to stop him, resulting in the 1st Class SOLDIER throwing himself off the platform.

"That's all I know about Sephiroth," Zack said afterwards. "I haven't seen him since and after that Cloud and I were taken back with Hojo."

"Right," Genesis turned to Angeal. "So we've come here looking for Sephiroth. Have you seen him?"

Angeal shook his head slowly, unable to keep the sadness out of his body language. "Maybe he's dead."

"You honestly think Sephiroth could have been killed by something like that?" Genesis asked him.

Angeal sighed and ran a hand through his hair, shrugging. He didn't know what to think any more, but he did want to believe that Sephiroth was still alive. Even though from what he had just heard Sephiroth had partially lost his mind, he still thought there would be some good left in his friend. Just as he hoped he might somehow be able to stop Genesis from doing anything stupid now that they had caught up to each other again.

"You can go have a look around the reactor if you want," Angeal said finally. "I don't think you'll find anything, but go ahead and see for yourselves. We left it alone when rebuilding everything so it looks exactly the same as it did all those years ago."

"So is that what you've been doing here?" Zack asked. "Helping to rebuild the town?"

"Yeah," Angeal nodded. "I felt bad since I was half responsible for it happening. Rebuilding was the least I could do for them all."

"I suppose your honour wouldn't have been able to cope if you simply walked away without doing anything, am I right?" Genesis mocked.

"A SOLDIERs honour is everything," Angeal said. "You would do well to remember that."

"My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honour remains," Genesis replied.

"Someone shoot me in the head," Zack groaned. "He's quoting LOVELESS."