Nothing seemed to make sense anymore and Zack was seriously considering having a panic attack. He knocked on the door in front of him. Probably one or two too many times as the voice that called him in sounded irritated.

"Come in, Zack." Inside, Sephiroth's glowing green eyes met his with some modicum of exasperation in an expression faintly reminiscent of Angeal. "What is it? I only have so much time before my meeting with President Shinra."

"Something's wrong," he said. "Something's weird and I can't figure out what to do." He shook his head and his voice took on an edge he couldn't identify. "Something's going on and it doesn't make any sense."

Sephiroth turned from irritated to serious in a flash. "What is it?"

He flipped open his PHS and began firing messages to Sephiroth's email. "So you know my friend Cloud Strife?"

"The infantryman," the general confirmed. "You've spoken of him before."

"He blew me off a few days ago to study for and take the Soldier entrance exam again."

"An admirable pastime Zack."

"No joking Sephiroth," he snapped, drawing a quirked brow from his commanding officer. He took a deep breath. "Sorry sir." He shook his head again. "It's just that I called him the day before the exams started. He told me to leave him alone this week so he could concentrate. It's no big deal because he usually does that before evaluations and the like. But he promised we'd go below the plate next week when he had leave. Only this morning I got bored because I really didn't want to wait another three days before exams were done. So I pulled up the in-progress exam results. I figured Spiky couldn't get mad at me for checking on him because I'd never tell him I'd done it."

That got him a sharp look but he didn't care.

"Only I don't find his name anywhere, like he's not taking the exams. So I dug a little deeper and found that he withdrew from Shinra forty-seven minutes after I talked to him. After our call, he went straight to the armory and checked out a sword I know he can't wield because I've done a little on the side training with him. Then he waited a half hour and went and withdrew."

He liked the growing frown on Sephiroth's face. It meant the man was beginning to feel the oddness of the situation.

"So I thought maybe the records were wrong and pulled up the video feeds. This is where it gets really weird. Pull up the files I sent you."

Sephiroth turned to his computer and immediately opened all the attachments. He walked around to the general's side of the desk and pointed. "This one first."

The Shinra training yard appeared on the screen. It was filled with groups of infantrymen and the Soldiers training them. He pointed again. "That one there is Cloud. Third row, second from the right." He looked visibly smaller than the others though not quite skinny.

The video screen suddenly went white as though from bright lights or electrical interference. "I checked the system," he said. "Every camera in the whole Shinra complex flared out like this for exactly two point nine seconds."

When the recorded images returned, the infantrymen were clustered around one of their members on the ground. "That's him on the ground."

The tinny yell of the Second leading the group piped through the audio feed above the general white noise. Cloud bolted upright and looked around like he didn't know what was going on. A few moments later, a couple other infantrymen hauled him up and they all fell back in formation and resumed their run around the yard.

"Now fast forward until he's closer to the camera and pause."

Sephiroth did so.

"Pull up the same video in a second screen and pause when he's closest to the camera before the white out."

Sephiroth operated these machines with ridiculous efficiency.

"Now look at the two. After the white out he's taller."

He thought he might be losing Sephiroth when a brow quirked at him.

"No seriously Sephiroth. Look at him compared to the two troopers he's between. He's clearly shorter than both. But look here," he pointed to the other window. "He's clearly taller than that one on the right and he's almost as tall as the other one."

"These two images aren't at the same angle Zack. It could be an optical illusion."

"I'll show you an optical illusion," he muttered, snatching the mouse from Sephiroth. He left the image with the smaller Cloud there but fast-forwarded the other one. "Now here he's talking on his PHS with me. Look at his clothes Sephiroth. They're way too small. The belt looks like it's going to cut him in half."

"He's a growing teen Zack. He's bound to go up a uniform size or two."

Ignoring his commander's words, he pulled up the next video feed. Cloud popped up, still in his too small uniform, in the armory.

"You sure you can carry this sword, infantryman?" the Third Class asked in the video feed.

Cloud took the weapon and flung it around like nothing. "He couldn't lift a blade that size with one hand three weeks ago Sephiroth. I know, I was there." He paused and pointed. "See that little quirky thing he did there? He's trying not to laugh. He made those Thirds twitch on purpose. Cloud is a quiet kind of kid. He doesn't poke fun like that. And he definitely doesn't fling broadswords around like nothing."

"No problem," the weird Cloud said.

"Good. Just be sure to keep it clean while you have it and check it back in promptly after your tests this week," the Third said.

"Yes, sir."

"See? There's that quirky thing again." Then, as Cloud flung harness and blade over his back, he said, "And I checked Cloud's last sword class. I've never even heard him talk about carrying the weapons on his back. It's always been on his hip."

"You wear your sword on your back," Sephiroth said flatly.

"That's because my sword is as tall as me."

"That is a fairly large sword for his size."

"That he shouldn't be able to wield."

"You said you're friends. Perhaps he's trying to emulate you."

"That doesn't explain why he spontaneously grew and quit Shinra." He pointed to the paused images again. "Look at that. You can see because the clothes are so damn tight that he's got some serious muscle going on there. I ran him through the physical profiling software the Turks have-"

"Zack-"

"And it estimates his height at three inches taller than at his physical last month and he put on about twenty-five pounds of muscle."

A smidgeon of doubt entered Sephiroth's features.

He pulled up the last feed of Cloud at the administration offices. "And just look." He pointed again. "What the hell is he wearing?"

He knew those clothes weren't Cloud's. His friend always had a penchant for t-shirts and shorts, not these baggy, dark clothes. "Who the hell wears headlamps?" he demanded of the universe.

"Turns out this soldiering thing is a bit too much for me. I'm going to find something else to do that doesn't involve army rations or calculus."

"Strangely enough," Sephiroth said thoughtfully, "it sounds like a sentence you would construct, Zack."

"I didn't quit Shinra," he snapped.

"He did what you call that quirky thing," Sephiroth added.

They watched Cloud hand over his ID card.

"Looks like you've got a sword checked out."

"I'm turning that in next. Once that's done, I'll clear out my bunk and head out."

"You really sure about this kid?" His hands hovered over the keyboard. "Once I save this there's no going back."

Cloud smiled slightly. "I'm sure."

He paused the video feed. There was no point watching him wander through the halls and brazenly take the sword he'd promised to leave but abandon all his gear except food rations.

"He stole the sword Sephiroth. He took the sword and his rations and disappeared below the plate. His PHS is disconnected and he's just gone. I called his mom on the pretext of asking about his medical history and she thinks he's retaking his Soldier exams too. The kid grew three inches and put on twenty-five pounds during a two point nine second surveillance white out then stole a sword and withdrew from Shinra while wearing a freaking headlamp," he said all in one breath. "Something's going on and I don't know what it is."

"I'll admit," Sephiroth said cautiously, "that something suspicious is going on here but I don't know that it warrants your borderline panic."

He glared and grit his teeth. Sephiroth's eyebrows rose, the man clearly not expecting to be regarded so venomously. Zack took a deep breath and bent back over the mouse and keyboard. He shook his head and grumbled angrily. He rewound the video feed where Cloud withdrew from Shinra. He got the angle as close to full on his face before zooming in and cleaning up the image a little.

He pointed at the screen and said, "Tell me if you see anything even slightly odd."

Sephiroth turned his eyes to the screen and studied. The general's eyes slowly narrowed and Zack took no pride in Sephiroth seeing exactly what he'd seen.

"It's difficult to say for sure," Sephiroth said, "as the headlamp interferes with proper lighting, but it appears as though Strife's eyes have at least some mako glow."

"I can tell you for sure the kid didn't have a glow last week when I saw him. I checked through his file. He hasn't been anywhere near mako. He hasn't made any trips to the infirmary for a Cure or a Heal and he's not high enough in the troops to even allow for materia training. You agree yet that something is going on?"

"It might not be actual mako," Sephiroth said slowly, "but a glare from the headlamp." At least he didn't seem like he was trying to brush it off anymore. "However, this definitely needs to be investigated. The lapse in security on the count of the video feed and the sword say something." His green eyes turned up to mine. "I assume you wish to handle this as quietly as possible?"

He nodded. "I want to know what's going on with Cloud before we start accusing him of anything."

"Agreed. The more I see, the fishier it-"

Sephiroth's door slammed open. The general froze in assessment while Zack reached immediately for his sword.

Reno barged in, closely followed by Cissnei and Rude. "Big news!"

Cissnei stepped forward and handed a thin file to Sephiroth across the desk. "There's been a terrorist attack," she said.

"Why are you reporting it?" Sephiroth said, whipping the file open and scanning the first page's contents.

He saw the pictures first. Fire and rubble and ash falling from the sky onto snow.

"Tseng sent us over straight away. Wanted you to have the information directly," she said.

Reno crept around the desk to peer at the file too. His eyes flicked to the computer screen and he did a double take. "Whoa, who's this guy? I saw 'im the other day and couldn' figure out why he looked familiar and now ya got surveillance of 'im in the Shinra building?"

He opened his mouth to demand answers but Sephiroth beat him to it. "When and where did you see Cloud Strife?"

"Cloud Strife?" Reno repeated. He pointed at Zack. "Isn' that your infantryman buddy?"

"Sector 6," Rude said. "Three days ago. Eighteen thirty-seven hours. Moving toward the train tracks."

"Shit Sephiroth, that's only four hours after he left."

"It's a start."

"What the hell's goin' on?" Reno asked.

Sephiroth said, "You have full discretion in this Zack. Draft a few Seconds or Thirds if you need but I might need you for this Nibelheim attack."

He was halfway to the door before that registered. "Wait," he said, spinning back, "Nibelheim attack? The terrorists attacked the Nibelheim reactor?"

"The reactor and the Shinra manor."

"No casualties," Cissnei added, "but both buildings are less than rubble."

"No casualties," Reno said, amusement thick in his voice, "but a damn wicked sense of humor. Everyone from the manor was put to sleep, shrunk, an' stopped out at the back edge of the property. Whoever it was only wanted the buildings an' everything in it."

"Sephiroth," Zack said. "Cloud's from Nibelheim."

"This just went from strange to a priority Zack. I'm ordering you to find Cloud Strife and bring him into custody. If you have to, request aid from the Turks. This still needs to be kept as quiet as possible. It would be horrible for public relations to have it leak that one of our own started blowing up reactors."

"Do you really think Cloud did this, Sephiroth?"

"I don't know, Zack, but it's too much of a coincidence to ignore. It could be that someone within Shinra is coercing him somehow. His file says he's only got the one relative. If they threatened him, he's got the right psychology to do something to keep her safe. We need to find whoever's behind this."

"What the hell?" Reno demanded. "What does Zack's infantry buddy have to do with terrorist attacks?"

"Reno, Rude," Cissnei said, "go with Fair and get the story. I'll work here with the general on the explosions directly."


"What are you doing back here?" Sephiroth asked when Tseng joined them in the briefing room.

"I felt it best if I delivered this personally." He held an envelope across the table to Sephiroth.

"Any word about the suspects?" he asked while Sephiroth unsealed the plastic bag and peeled open the envelope.

"There's been no evidence of your friend Strife in Nibelheim Zack," Tseng said. "There's tracks around the ruins of the manor and the reactor but nothing particularly telling. We're only reasonably sure there were two people involved."

"Has anyone taken responsibility?" Sephiroth asked.

"Several groups," Tseng said. "Avalanche first among them. But we've ruled every confessing terrorist group out. No one had anyone in the right place to do it and none of the groups have anything we haven't leaked to the media. Not even the underground conspiracy mailing lists have anything of relevance on the subject." He indicated the envelope in Sephiroth's hands. "That's the only thing left of either bomb locations. It appears to have been left after the reactor explosion."

"Two envelopes in one?" he asked when Sephiroth produced two thinner envelopes from the first.

"One is addressed to me," Sephiroth said, "and this one is addressed to Rufus Shinra."

Tseng pulled out a PHS and hit one of the speed dial numbers. He waited a moment then said, "Do you have a few spare moments sir?... Would you please join General Sephiroth, First Class Zack Fair, and myself in the briefing room…? Thank you."

The PHS returned to his pocket. "Vice President Shinra will be down shortly."

"What does yours say Sephiroth?" Zack asked. He didn't want to wait for the vice president. He figured if Cloud really did have something to do with this, he would be able to tell from the language in the letters.

With a sigh, Sephiroth opened his envelope and scanned the contents. He frowned. "This is…unusual." He appeared to read it a second time more closely.

"Read it aloud will you," he said.

"Read it yourself Zack," Sephiroth said, proffering the paper.

He snatched it up and read aloud for Tseng's benefit. "Hello Sephiroth. Your eyes see reality and your memory carries illusions. However, reality can be shaped to create illusions that create lies that crystallize paths of madness in your mind. It's very important that you always get a second opinion before believing anything you read in a certified Shinra document, even if you think they must be true because it's highly unlikely you would ever read them. Signed CS Delivery. P.S. Despair is a horrible present." He scowled at the sheet. "What the hell?"

"My thoughts exactly," Sephiroth said.

"Sephiroth," Tseng said, "excepting those last two lines, it all sounds like something you would say during your more dramatic moments."

"I agree," the general said with a frown. "It's somewhat disturbing considering I've given extensive thought to reality and illusions and which sources of information can be trusted."

"This suggests that there's something the culprit or culprits believe you might react to in a very negative way if you see something that they believe to be misinformation."

Zack asked, "What exactly was being kept in Nibelheim?" Tseng and Sephiroth stared at him. He shrugged. "If they think Sephiroth is going to react badly to something wouldn't it follow that they try to get rid of it? Especially if it isn't true? They just blew up a couple of Shinra facilities in Nibelheim. If I were a bad guy, I would blow stuff up first and then start talking about why. If you start throwing why's around first then people might catch on and you won't be able to blow stuff up for all the security measures."

"I knew there had to be a reason they promoted you," Reno said from the doorway. "That's exactly what it sounds like to me."

"Were you eavesdropping?" Sephiroth asked archly.

"Just got here before everyone else."

Vice President Rufus Shinra swept in, followed by Cissnei and Rude. The seated occupants of the room stood and waited for him to wave them out of attention. "I assume this has something to do with the explosions in Nibelheim."

"Yes sir," Tseng said. "We believe an unknown terrorist or small group is responsible for the terrorism. They left letters at the reactor. The first we just read was addressed to General Sephiroth."

He quickly handed the letter over. Shinra read through quickly before speaking. "Quite theatrical. And it seems to indicate they thought something significant existed at one or both sites that would affect the general." He dropped the paper on the table and prompted, "The second letter?"

"Addressed to you, sir." Tseng handed over the second letter.

The vice president made short work of the envelope. The sly, pleased smile that crept over his face was chilling. What could have the young man so impossibly pleased?

He just couldn't take the silence as Shinra read through the letter a third time.

"Sir?" he prompted, leg bouncing uncontrollably under the table.

Sephiroth and Tseng both shot irked looks this direction but the vice president didn't seem to mind.

"Rufus Shinra. Controlling the world with money seems to work. The population thinks Shinra will protect them. Work at Shinra, get your pay. If a terrorist attacks, the Shinra army will help them. It looks perfect on the outside. Might you have a better idea? Might it take a little something else less wasteful to control the common people? People are ignorant after all. A good son would know what to do with his father. Signed here at the bottom with CS Delivery. P.S. It's possible to like giving speeches too much."

He had no idea what to make of Shinra's increasingly pleased, satisfied smirk.

Shinra dropped the page on the table and pointed to both letters. "This person, this responsible party for CS Delivery, whoever they are, knows us. I can't say which of us they know better. Both letters are of a rather intimate nature," he eyed Sephiroth critically. "There are things the writer alludes to here that I've never spoken aloud. They're polite enough not to point them out directly, but as it is written with language I would use myself, there's no doubt in my mind what it means."

"But why would this terrorist group want to destroy something that might upset Sephiroth to somehow go after President Shinra?" Zack asked, genuinely confused as to how all that might connect. He didn't expect every eye to turn to him in surprise.

"How did you reach that conclusion?" Vice President Shinra asked sharply, glacial blue eyes landing on him in uncomfortable consideration.

He scratched his head. "It's kind of obvious don't you think?"

"No," Sephiroth said. "Explain how you got there."

Shinra said, "Not obvious to many. Though I reached the same conclusion. Do explain how you reached this conclusion First Class Fair."

"Well," he rubbed the back of his neck, leg bouncing under the table, "we already went over Sephiroth's letter. CS Delivery thinks there was something in the mansion or the reactor that might send Sephiroth into a bad place mentally. That would mean he could go off the deep end like…other enhanced people have. So then looking at Vice President Shinra's letter, it talks about how CS Delivery thinks Shinra Company is run. With them asking if you would do things differently, that means they don't approve of what the President is doing. Then I just go back to the letter being left at the reactor. Why would they leave the letter at all if only Sephiroth's letter had to do with the Nibelheim attacks? Both had to have something to do with it. That leaves three pretty simple messages."

He held up one finger. "Sephiroth shouldn't believe everything he reads." Up went the second finger. "Vice President Shinra might be a better leader than his father." Then the third finger. "Blowing up the reactor and the mansion gets rid of something Sephiroth can't deal with and some misdeed of the president's."

"That's remarkably insightful Zack." Tseng sounded thoughtful.

"I'm surprised to hear it from you," Reno said.

Shinra held up a hand before anyone else could speak. "Did anyone besides Fair and myself make those connections?"

Only Sephiroth nodded.

"I thought you said it wasn't obvious," Zack said to the general.

"It isn't Zack. It surprised me that you saw."

He rubbed his forehead. "But the thinking is upfront. I don't get all the high flying words or the personal implications and all that but the basics are just hanging out there, flapping in the wind."

"No matter how obvious you say it is," Tseng said evenly, "it's not the most obvious conclusion."

"Is it time to point out the name signed?" Reno waved his hand around airily then pointed at the letters. "The initials 'er pretty incriminating for your little buddy Zack."

"What's this?" Shinra asked, narrowed eyes regarding the group.

"We've been trying to keep a certain bit of information as closely held as possible," Tseng said. "It would look bad for the company if it leaked before we had any solid proof."

Zack couldn't help but scowl. This was Cloud they were implicating in a terrorist bombing.

Sephiroth picked up when Tseng paused. "Five days ago, a certain infantryman of First Class Fair's acquaintance withdrew from Shinra under highly peculiar circumstances."

He silently fumed throughout the general's recounting of everything leading up to him walking into Sephiroth's office.

"And this infantryman's name?" Shinra asked at the conclusion.

Sephiroth eyed him expectantly.

He sighed before straightening. "Cloud Strife. He's from Nibelheim."

"CS Delivery," Reno added unhelpfully.

"I'm not inclined to believe in coincidence," Shinra said, "but this act of terrorism is tied to the infantryman in question only circumstantially. Have we discovered anything new about his whereabouts or activities since Reno identified him in Sector 6?"

Tseng answered. "Subsequent sweeps searching for witnesses have him slaughtering monsters in the slums until very late the day he withdrew. He was seen in Wall Market afterward, selling monster bits and buying materia and armor. Wall Market has relatively basic provisions but he knew what he was doing. If he went through the mountains on his way to Junon instead of going around by way of Kalm and Fort Condor, he would have encountered relatively high level monsters and it would have been easy to level up the materia he had to cast the spells cast on our personnel in Nibelheim if he had enough innate magic packed behind it."

"Does Strife have those sorts of reserves?"

"Unknown," Sephiroth said. "He hasn't even been tested for mako tolerance let alone magic ability. He failed the Soldier exam the first time through."

"We haven't found any sign of him in any place he might have stopped between here and Nibelheim." Tseng shifted to face Shinra. "Nothing in Junon, Costa del Sol, North Corel, Corel, or Nibelheim itself."

"Is the mother the only relative Strife has?"

"Yes," Zack said. If anyone was talking about Cloud himself, he would be the one doing it.

"And she still doesn't know anything about her son?"

"Nope. I called with follow up questions this morning and she still hasn't heard from him. We've got surveillance in place now so if he goes anywhere near him we'll see."

"Any trace of mako in the belongings he left behind?"

"No."

"Who knows of his possible involvement in the Nibelheim attacks?"

"The people in this room and Second Class Soldier Kunsel."

Shinra quirked a brow. "The president hasn't been informed?"

Tseng said, "Plausible deniability, sir. Besides, we knew he would inform the board of directors and as we can't be sure Strife isn't involved and isn't following someone else's orders, we couldn't risk telling that many people. Especially if Strife has been enhanced. That would require executive level authorization."

"I can see why you're bringing me in now," Shinra said. "Fair, do you have any idea why Strife might go after the Shinra facilities in his hometown?"

"No sir. Whenever we've talked about home or here, he's always gone on about how awesome soldiers are and how much he wants to become a hero just like us and protect some childhood friend."

Rufus quirked a brow. "Perhaps he's thinking he's playing hero now. If something in Nibelheim will affect Sephiroth, he'll destroy it and save one of his heroes. If President Shinra is doing something wrong in his home town, he'll stop it and protect his childhood friend."

"If he's the one doing this," he couldn't help saying.

"Your loyalty is admirable," Shinra said, "but that doesn't make Strife innocent. Don't worry about him being condemned without evidence. We're speaking hypothetically and merely not ruling anything out. It may not be solid, but it's also the best lead."

"I understand, sir." No matter how much he didn't want to.


AN: Any and all comments, disclaimers, and notes are on my profile page. If I get asked a question enough times, its answer is there too.