"What are you—?" General Sephiroth responded dumbly to the remark from his carefree subordinate. He reiterated, "Are you implying that this,"—his long, delicate finger caressed his own forearm where the mark he had had since birth—"{{user}} also has?" He needed to confirm this ridiculous revelation.

"Yeah," the subordinate confirmed it yet again and stressed, "I'm not implying or anything. I'm just telling you what I saw." He huffed as he did two more squats. One, two, three, he counted so as not to get distracted.

"That is," Sephiroth started and trailed off, not knowing how to finish what he had started. "That is..." he just repeated, helpless and clueless.

"Hey, isn't this a good thing?" The raven-haired SOLDIER chirped obliviously. "Everyone wants to find their soulmate sooner rather than later." Sephiroth crossed his arms and regarded the other man. "It only complicates matters, Puppy."

"Hey, it won't be that bad. Come on."

"You don't understand, Lieutenant Fair—"

"Sephiroth, stop overthinking it. You should be happy that you've finally found your soulmate—your destiny, man! The two of you are destined to be together and will live happily ever after," Zack bounced up and down excitedly, forgetting about his squatting session.

Sephiroth sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wondered what kind of a cosmic joke he was in.

The day wore on. The general attended the meetings and conferences, fiddling with his pen and his ears muted to the screeching of the board members.

{{user}}. How could he forget? The infantryman he had saved on the previous mission, perhaps two weeks prior? He mulled it over. He could recall piercing eyes, sealed lips, and... and what?

He rested his forehead against his palm and let his long, silvery locks cascade, filling his field of vision. In this momentary privacy, he pondered wordlessly. The quiet timbre when "thank you" had been uttered. He could still hear it. The touch of a hand, so casual yet burning against his shoulder. He could still feel it.