This Bitter Earth

Zack sat nervously in the huge chair. Nervously was probably an understatement. Every hair on his body was standing up. He tapped his fingers lightly against his right thigh while tapping his foot on the floor. His eyes darted back and forth, examining everything in the office as if it were his first time seeing them. More than once, he'd stopped himself from grinding his teeth. The complete and utter silence was slowing killing him. It was, by far, much worse than torture.

Zack wanted to speak. He wanted to say something, even if it was nothing more than a comment on the weather. However, he couldn't bring himself to speak first. Not in the presence of the Great Sephiroth. There were some arrogant bastards in the military that wondered why Sephiroth was so great. Obviously, they had never been in his intimidating presence... a presence so otherworldly and alien that it required your full attention and left you no other choice but to obey. Sephiroth earned his title and all anyone could do was respect it.

There was something about Sephiroth that motivated Zack to at least try to befriend his eccentric superior. Sephiroth was a loner. For someone so handsome and admired, he was never seen in a casual conversation with anyone. No but me, Zack thought with a bit of pride. Sephiroth never asked any girls out, and the girls who tried to capture his attention were blatantly ignored. In fact, one girl was so mad that Sephiroth wouldn't accept any of her advances that she told everyone who would listen that Sephiroth was gay.

Zack frowned. He remembered a very arrogant and power hungry First Class SOLDIER named Donnie. If nothing else, nobody could ever call Donnie a coward. Foolish? Yes. But a coward? No.

Donnie actually had the balls to call Sephiroth gay to his face. Now, Sephiroth didn't get upset. In fact, he ignored Donnie and that angered the boy even more. Donnie wanted so badly to goad Sephiroth into a fight, so he kept throwing insult after insult at Sephiroth. As everyone knows, there comes a point when enough is enough. After three insults towards Sephiroth's mother and one towards his father, Donnie got his wish.

Sephiroth's temper became legendary that day, and every man alive learned why he was called "The Great Sephiroth."

Sephiroth's green eyes glowed so brightly that Zack could have sworn his eyes were a reflection of the Life Stream. Even though there was no wind in the room, Sephiroth's silver hair fanned out behind him. Everything was so quiet and still, as if his very presence sucked the sound from the room. Then it happened... Sephiroth unleashed a Fire spell so strong that it left nothing of Donnie but ashes. Quite a few people in the room were accidently injured due to the intensity of the flames and heat. Never had anyone been able to cast a Fire spell strong enough to incinerate a body. Sephiroth merely looked at everyone in with a mask of indifference and walked away.

Zack shuddered. He wondered at how he could admire and fear Sephiroth at the same time. The man was a complete and utter mystery. Zack could truthfully say that he was the closest person to Sephiroth, yet he knew absolutely nothing about Sephiroth's personal life other than his mother died giving birth to him. What was Sephiroth's favorite song? His favorite drink? His favorite food? Was Sephiroth really so indifferent to life that he cared for nothing? Not even his own life?

Zack had seen the bloodthirsty look in Sephiroth's eyes many times. He knew about many of the suicidal missions he'd go on, and somehow, always come back victorious but a little less human. Maybe Sephiroth did care little for his own life. Or maybe he was just very anti-social and didn't like attention. It would explain many of his actions. For example, he would stand at attention in front of the President and his eyes would be dull... almost lifeless as the President praised him for a job well-done.

Zack bit down a wave jealousy. How could Sephiroth be so distanced from everything? His life was good for crying out loud! Sephiroth was one of the highest paid officials and most prized SOLDIER at Shinra. Not only that, but everyone knew Shinra wouldn't be in his position of power if it weren't for Sephiroth. Zack wondered if Sephiroth knew how many people would die for his good life. But was Sephiroth's life really that good?

After coming back from missions, Sephiroth, at the President's request, would go and rest for a day or two even though he didn't seem tired at all. The next day at work, he'd assign missions, review applications and mission reports, write up reports, train a handful of SOLDIERs, and go after incredibly strong monsters that terrorized people. Of course, things didn't always happen in that particular order, but they happened nonetheless. Sephiroth's life was predictable even if the man himself wasn't. One had to wonder, though, what did Sephiroth do in his spare time? In his time off, as far as Zack knew, Sephiroth never left his apartment.

Zack stared at his superior. Sephiroth was leaning back into the chair. His long sword was propped up against the wall behind him. His hands were resting on the armrest and his eyes were close, as if he were deep in meditation. Sephiroth looked very peaceful and boyish... almost as if he were frozen in time.

More than once, Zack had wished that he could be more like Sephiroth. Always calm and composed in the most deadly situations. Always with a plan and a backup plan. Always confident, perhaps a bit arrogant at times. If Sephiroth said something would be done, it would be done. The man across from him was just and fair, yet dangerous and cunning. It was a popular rumor among the ladies that Sephiroth was really a prince from a foreign land.

Zack smiled as a feeling of nostalgia washed over him. He once told Sephiroth about the rumor, and Sephiroth seemed truly shocked to find that's what people said about him. Then he laughed bitterly and told Zack there was no hint of truth to that rumor.

"Why are you smiling?"

Sephiroth's deep and calm voice startled him. "How did you--"

"Know you were smiling even though my eyes are closed?"

Zack nodded.

"It's a trick I learned a long time ago," Sephiroth explained, opening his eyes, "For the past ten minutes, you've been tense and on edge. I have sensitive hearing. I heard you exhaled, and I sensed that you were more relaxed."

"Oh."

"Yeah. That, and I've known you long enough to know that whenever you're tense, you start thinking seriously about things, and somehow, it always lead you back to a fond memory, which in turn makes you smile. So, why were you smiling?"

Zack grinned. "Since when did you know me so well?"

"I've worked with long enough to learn some of your mannerisms as I'm sure you've learned some of mine."

"I guess," Zack replied, shrugging nonchalantly. "Um, so, how are you?"

Sephiroth tilted his head, frowning slightly. "Fine, I suppose."

"Oh."

"I want it leaked to every news station and paper that group responsible for the bombing of Shinra's reactors are called AVALANCHE."

Zack nearly jumped out of his seat. Leave it to Sephiroth to jump straight to the point. "What? How do you know?"

"I was told," Sephiroth answered, smiling to himself. "I want you to find everything you can about the owner of Tifa's Seventh Heaven."

"That's a bar in Sector 7. It's very popular."

"Yes, I know. I met Tifa."

"Well," Zack said, a teasing tone to his voice, "I never knew you were such a ladies' man."

Sephiroth quirked an eyebrow. "I'm not."

"That's your loss then."

"Perhaps," Sephiroth said, chuckling to himself, "I don't trust Tifa at all. She knows who AVALANCHE is, and maybe even works for them herself. I hardly doubt the girl is stupid. She didn't let such sensitive information slip by accident."

"That means she must want them to be found... but why?"

"To get inside of Shinra," Sephiroth muttered, "There's something they want that's inside the main headquarters. Sneaking in is too dangerous... too risky. What better way than to be caught?"

Zack stroked his chin and his dark eyes glowed brightly. "But if we catch them, they'll be thrown in jail. So, the only way they could possibly get out is if..."

"They have someone on the inside working for them already."

"I'll be damned!" Zack shouted, "I wondered how they knew the reactors so well."

Sephiroth nodded.

"So, why do we tell the news stations about AVALANCHE?"

"The people of the slums are poor. I'll bet many of them would betray the terrorists if a nice sum of money came along with information."

Zack grinned devilishly. "I really love the way you think. I'll start trying to weed out the traitor."

"Good," Sephiroth said, "I think I'll also have Heidegger assign the Turks to the Sector 7."

"Good idea." Zack stood up, preparing to leave. "Well, I'll get to work immediately on this. I assume that you'll want a full background check on everyone associated with Shinra?"

Sephiroth nodded. "Start with military personnel who has only been with Shinra for three years or less. At the bar, I heard someone whisper something about how they shouldn't trust anyone working under me. I didn't glance around to see who said it in fear that they might catch on."

"I see. Consider it done." Zack turned on his heel to leave. His mind was thinking of everyone he needed to contact in order to take care of the loose ends of Sephiroth's idea. Of course, Sephiroth was perfectly capable of making his plan flawless. However, taking of care loose ends was Zack's job, and Zack was perfectly happy with that. His position required the trust of Sephiroth and it was a honor to be considered trustworthy by Sephiroth.

Zack was almost to the door when he heard Sephiroth's calm and authoritative voice. "You do not have permission to leave yet, Lieutenant General Fatoni."

Zack stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, a look of confusion playing on his face. "Sir?"

"Tell me about that flower girl."

"Aeris?"

Sephiroth nodded.

"Oh. It's a long story."

"Then please," Sephiroth said, pausing for a moment, "Sit back down."

Zack nodded, and walked back to the chair in front of Sephiroth's desk. He took a deep breath and exhaled. "I am originally from Gongaga. When I was fourteen, I left home to join SOLDIER. We were in the same squad together, you know."

Sephiroth nodded.

"Time goes on and next thing I know... you've made it to First Class SOLDIER and I was still Second Class."

"Yeah. You were pretty bitter about that."

Zack glared at Sephiroth. "If you hadn't tripped me on that very important mission, I would have made it to First Class that year too!"

"I didn't trip you. You fell over a rock and alerted the enemy to our presence. It's not my problem you're no good at stealth."

"Anyway," Zack said, not willing to bring that particular argument back up and ignoring the sardonic smirk plastered on Sephiroth's face, "Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted."

"I was pissed off at you. I went down in the Slums hoping that someone would start a fight with me so I could work off some of my anger. As luck would have it, I ran into these hoodlums about to rape a young girl."

Sephiroth frowned in disgust. He always considered taking advantage of women a cowardly thing to do, and as everyone knew, Sephiroth despised cowards. "I assume that girl was Aeris?"

"Right," Zack answered, "I fought the hoodlums off, told them to get lost, and I escorted her home. I bought a flower from her too. She grows them in a Church in Sector Five. When I first saw Aeris, I knew she was the most beautiful girl in the world. Eventually, we ended up dating for awhile, but somewhere along the line, the chemistry between us died. Neither of us were bitter towards the other or anything, and we remained great friends. In fact, Aeris is like the little sister I never had."

"I see."

"I bought Aeris a staff and taught her some basic moves. She's an awful fighter though. However, she's really good with materia. So I bought her some armor and materia also. Trouble has a way of finding Aeris, and I won't always be there to protect her, so... you know."

"You care about her that much?" Sephiroth asked.

"Yeah. I do."

"Why is she wanted by Shinra?"

"I don't know," Zack answered honestly, "She never would tell me. All I know is Hojo wants to experiment on her."

Zack tensed a bit when he saw the anger in Sephiroth's eye flare at the mention of Hojo's name. "Sephiroth?"

"I didn't mean what I said to the flower girl."

"She knows," Zack said, grinning from ear to ear, "She's very empathic."

"You can leave now," Sephiroth said.

Zack stood and walked towards the door. Before he exited, he threw Sephiroth one last glanced. Had Sephiroth been paying attention, he would have noticed the evil grin on his second-in-command's face. "See you later, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth looked up from the file he was reading over just in time to see the door close behind Zack. A sudden chill filled the room, and for no apparent reason, a sense of dread gripped him and refused to let go.

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A/N: Oh, another part up and done. I had to re-write this all over again. The original chapter, Sephiroth & Zack acting VERY out of character. This chapter isn't good at all, but I need it to set up the rest of the story! Sorry it's taken me so long to get this part up, but finals, and spring break... plus me trying to find and correct all the errors... well, it took awhile. I just hope this chapter made at least some sense!