This is a sequel to Fanning the Flames. It's done for my sister and best friend, Emily, who is hopelessly in love with the pairing. Love you, Emmy.

"Seph, ya gotta help me a little here. The doc said you gotta move to get your arms back in the way they were." Reno glared down at his lover in an irritated fashion as he tried to tend to one of the wounds. Sephiroth had been broken and bruised when he'd returned to him, and he didn't seem to be getting any better. In fact, the many wounds that were appearing on him looked fresh, as if something inside of him was lashing out because of prior sins. "If ya don't move around, ya ain't gonna get no better."

Green eyes slowly opened, staring at the ceiling. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to shift, didn't want to face the world, didn't even want to look out of the window or see sunshine. To have your humanity stripped away, to be lowered to the rank of a piss ant and relieved of your title, to lose your mind and then gain it again, only to have people stare at you as if you were a monster. Sephiroth wished at that point that he'd died. That Cloud had buried his buster sword deep into his heart and held him as he died. Sephiroth realized one thing with absolute clarity, one thing that he couldn't dismiss as painkillers working at the tattered edges of his mind and soul.

He wanted to die.

Sephiroth knew that he was supposed to die in that crater. Yet, he'd lived on by sheer willpower if not power of body, and he'd continued. His existence was a mystery that none of the remaining ShinRa scientists could figure out. He'd lived despite all that had gone on, appeared through remains of his body that had lingered in the Jenova Cells that'd rained at the end of the Great Meteor Year. Geostigma had kept him alive. The ex-general slowly blinked, trying to think on that. Geostigma had kept him alive. Geostigma had killed a great many men, women, and children. It hadn't discriminated, after all. Geostigma had plagued people, drove them mad with anger and brutality. Geostigma had stricken the world with absolute brutality and left half of its inhabitants insane with fear, the ones that had remained. Surely, a cure had come. A cure had reached those that were left and it was eradicated, but Sephiroth had survived and reformed in his nest in the Northern Crater, where the entire situation had started.

The silver one smiled without humor as he remembered the burn of the sun, beating down on his body on that first day. He'd lain there staring at the sky for what felt like days, but he knew it was only one. The sun had risen that morning and driven its path across the sky, setting before he was able to drag his broken body upward to start the long trek home. And the journey had been anything but pleasant. He'd traipsed his way across the snow, across the long expanse of land, surviving only on what seemed to be sheer stubbornness. However, he knew that it wasn't possible for him to die before he reached home. There was only one reason for him to return home, and that reason was currently irritated at him. Sephiroth knew he had every right to be, but it hurt all the same that he was.

"God damnit SEPHIROTH! SIT YOUR ASS UP AND TAKE THE GOD DAMN MEDICINE!"

"I don't want to."

"FUCK!" Sephiroth heard the faint sound of a breaking mirror on the other side of the room. Probably the pill bottle. "GET YOUR ASS UP! NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW! BITCH, GET UP!" The silver one was once again amazed at his little boyfriend's strength. Sephiroth was heavy due to the vast amount of metallic mako that was running through his veins, and for Reno to reach underneath his shoulders and shove him up without another word, without even straining, he knew that his lover was quite annoyed. "Take your god damn medicine, get your ass well so you can stop mopin' like a bitch! So ya killed a bunch'a people. SO WHAT?! God damnit DO WHAT I SAY!"

Sephiroth did it just for meanness. "No." Then quickly saw a flash of knuckle and blackness.

**********

"Well... Reno, you know that he's having trouble with memories, most likely." Rufus tapped his pen against his lower lip as he stared without seeing at the opposite wall. He was still using Healin Lodge as his headquarters, mainly out of necessity than want. His building was under construction, waiting for more funding which he lacked, amazingly. "Sephiroth has done many things that he's likely uncomfortable with when it comes to venting. It's poisoning his mind and making him lose touch with reality. If you committed as many crimes as he has, would you be comfortable with drawing breath when your victims couldn't?"

Reno took a ragged breath on the other end of the phone, released it. He tried to ignore the annoying tears that were streaming down his face. "I dunno, yo. I thought he was gonna be the same ol' Seph when he came back. I thought he was gonna be alright, but he's been talkin' strange. Talkin' about how he's so sorry he came back. Talkin' about how he don't wanna live no more. Ru, what do I do about it? I dunno what to do 'sides lock his happy ass up in a loony bin somewhere, and I'm scared they'd mistreat him cuz'a what he did. I dun wanna do that, but if I came back one day an' found him dead on the floor I'd never forgive myself."

Rufus took a sip of the tea on his desk, pondering the thought of Sephiroth leaving the world. "Didn't he tell you that he woke in the Northern Crater?"

"Yeah, but what's that got to do with shit, yo?"

He smiled at no one in particular. "If Sephiroth made a journey halfway across the world just to get to you in the broken state that he was in, do you really think he would remove himself permanently from your presence? Sephiroth belongs to you, and what a dangerous weapon to possess. I don't think you have to worry much, but all the same, I'm giving you leave to be with him. Call me whenever you need something and I'll see what I can do, but don't be disappointed if I can't help. It's going to take time. He's going to need a lot of time. He might never get over this, Reno." He sipped his tea again, playing with the handle as he set it down. "Be prepared for him to never recover. It might be easier than expecting something and never obtaining what you expected."

Reno swallowed the lump in his throat and kept his eyes closed. "I guess. I mean... Thanks, Rufus. I gotta go."

"Take care, Reno. Give Sephiroth my regards."

"Will do. Bye, boss."

Rufus stared at the wall as Reno hung up and followed shortly, shook his head. "One day, they might just recover together."