A/N: Just a warning ahead of time, there will be a relatively long note at the bottom of this.
Cloud stood in place, his eyes wide with shock. He knew Sephiroth was incredibly fast, but he had no clue he was that quick. The lab assistant had the same expression on her face, except her mouth was agape. Sephiroth looked up from Zack, who was still trying to wriggle free, to look at his bewildered audience. With a quick roll of his eyes, he settled his gaze back to the husky, but not without a comment first. "You may want to shut your trap before a fly gets in." This broke the trance of the two. The woman grew flustered and offended as though Sephiroth had just backhanded her. She snapped her mouth shut almost instantly.
Cloud on the other hand came to his senses and realized poor Zack was slowly choking to death. "Seph!" he screamed, rushing to the General's side. He plucked the dog from his grasp, cradling him to his chest. Slowly, he backed away, eying Sephiroth, and whispering inaudible things to the dog. As Cloud protected his friend, the angered assistant went to protect her honor.
The woman cleared her throat rather indignantly and narrowed her gaze on the Silver General. "Sephiroth, you may speak to others in such a tone, but here you hold no influence. We can make your life a million times worse than what that boy and his pup have been," she said, gesturing to Cloud and Zack who were now standing against the wall watching the spat intently. Both knew this wasn't going to end well, most likely with that poor woman's head on a platter.
A low chuckle filled the room. Zack shrank back into Cloud's chest, knowing what comes next. Instead of hearing the sound of someone begging for their life as seven feet of metal is unsheathed; Sephiroth's voice filled the room. "You may think you're high and mighty, but all in all, you're simply a crotchety old woman who has nothing better to do in her life than spend it with a sleazebag of a scientist. I could have your head for threatening me, but really, my life can't get much worse than having to take care of an inept SOLDIER. Now come on Cloud, we really need to pay our mad scientist a visit." Again, Cloud and the woman had been in a trance, but at the mention of his name, Cloud all but ran out of the room. Sephiroth spun to follow the blonde out of the room, but before he walked out, he glanced back over his shoulder. "Now now, what did I tell you about keeping that mouth shut?" Shaking his head, Sephiroth exited the room, leaving behind a boiling mad lab assistant.
Cloud, who had been clutching Zack so tightly to his chest the poor thing couldn't breathe, relaxed his hold slightly. He turned to the man walking behind him. "Wow Seph, I'm surprised, and slightly proud of you," he commented, smirking. "I didn't know you had so much self control."
"You'd be surprised. I had plenty of self control to spare—until you and Fair came along. With all the stunts you two pull, it's almost impossible to not act on impulse anymore."
"Kinda like almost impaling Zack for using an extremely temporary dye to turn your hair black? I'd say that's a little bit impulsive." Zack yipped in agreement and shifted to put his little paws on Cloud's shoulder and stared accusingly at Sephiroth. He put his tiny chin on his paws and let out a little huff. Sephiroth simply rolled his eyes at the display and poked the dog between his eyes.
"You deserved it." The statement earned another disgruntled huff.
Sadly, the peaceful moment was interrupted by the sound of glass breaking, and a man's voice bellowing in unrestrained anger. Cloud turned back to Sephiroth. "I think we just found Hojo." At the sound of the scientist's name, Zack wiggled his way back against Cloud's chest, and buried his face in the crease of his elbow. As the trio neared the next open door, the voice got louder and louder.
"You incompetent fool! I leave you with a simple experiment to better understand how subjects react to injection, and you still manage to botch that! I ought to turn you into a frog! You seem to have an I.Q. on the same level as one! Actually, that's an insult to frogs everywhere. Get out of my sight!" The sound of more glass shattering and a wail could be heard. Seconds later, a female bolted out of the room, covered in a glowing slime. She took one look at Sephiroth and Cloud and took off in the opposite direction.
Sephiroth leaned down, whispering in Cloud's ear. "Is it just me, or does it seem like Hojo only has female assistants?" Cloud threw a look over his shoulder that clearly said 'Really?' Sephiroth just shrugged and made his way past Cloud, and nudged the door open with his foot. "What the hell?" Sephiroth muttered as he took in his surroundings. Cloud wearily made his way to the door, hiding behind the older man's back. Slowly, he peeked around his arm, and he held Zack out so he could see too. Quickly, he yanked Zack back and fell backwards, stumbling into the opposite wall. As soon as he hit the floor with a loud thump, Hojo whirled around, suddenly aware that he wasn't alone. He desperately tried to formulate an explanation for what was in the room, but came up blank and simply stood there stuttering.
Sephiroth glanced down at Cloud and Zack who were sitting on the floor stunned, and then he turned back to Hojo and the room the pair was shielding their eyes from. Inside the already cramped room, cages lined each wall, almost reaching the ceiling. Each held a different species of cat. In the center of the room, there was an examination table crammed into the extremely tight space. Strapped down to said table was an unconscious Reno. Sephiroth took in the I.V. pumping a mysterious green goop into the Turks veins. "Care to explain what's going on in here?"
"Y-Yes. Uhm. You see . . . When you brought Mr. Fair in here, I couldn't just let an opportunity pass me by. I had created a successful serum which transforms humans into animals! Do you know how long I've been trying to successfully do that? Well . . . it's somewhat successful. We don't know if it kills the subject yet or not. So when the Turk came here for his routine visit, I just slipped him a little Rohypnol. He won't remember a thing. Now, my means of research may be a bit unorthodox, they get the job done."
"Yes, by turning staff members into animals. Does Rufus know you're conducting experiments on his employees?"
"W-Well," Hojo said, walking forward, trying to usher Sephiroth out of the room, but to no avail. "He doesn't exactly know, all he knows is I get results. Truly he doesn't care what goes on in here."
Sephiroth stared down at the slimy man in front of him. "So, if I told ShinRa right now what you were doing, he wouldn't have your hide?"
Hojo froze in place, then instantly grabbed hold of Sephiroth's arms. Never before had Seph been so thankful for his thick leather coat and gloves. Sephiroth plucked the man's hands from his arms while the scientist stuttered. "N-Now now. L-let's n-not be hasty. Surely there's s-something I can d-do to, you know, buy your s-silence." A small smile spread across his face as Seph stared at Hojo in an oddly predatory manner.
"An antidote."
"What?"
"You heard what I said. Antidote." Sephiroth made a show out of resting his hand on the hilt of Masamune. Hojo looked away quickly.
"I'll see what I can do."
"You have one week to have an antidote on my desk. If it's not there in time, Rufus will hear all about what you've been doing down here. Then when Rufus is done with you, I'll make what he did to you look like a walk in the park if you know what I mean." Hojo's eyes shifted back and forth as what Sephiroth just said sank in.
"One week isn't enough time! There's no way I could possibly have an antidote done in time!"
Sephiroth had already turned to leave. "Two weeks," he threw over his shoulder as he began to walk out of the room. Before he made it out, he turned back around. "Oh yeah, I'll be taking this by the way." Sephiroth made his way back to the limp form of Reno and yanked the invasive tube from his arm. He threw the unconscious man over his shoulder and made his exit. The General made his way to where Cloud was still on the floor hugging Zack to his chest, burying his face in the soft fur of his companion. He reached down, pulling Cloud up by the collar of his shirt. "Come on you two; let's get out of this hellhole." Sephiroth put his hand in the middle of Cloud's back as he led the teenager down the stark white hallway.
"So two weeks left of puppy Zack?"
"Thankfully."
"These two weeks are gonna drag by, though I may miss the little fluffball," Cloud said, holding the dog away from himself, taking in all of his dog qualities from his fluffy tail all the way to his perky ears.
"It'll feel like years. Though one thing I'll miss is his inability to talk. At least in two weeks he can almost take care of himself again."
"Almost?"
"That teen cannot take care of himself. Without Angeal you would've killed yourself by now," he said, poking the dog in the stomach. Cloud quickly tucked Zack back against his chest.
"So what do we do now? And what are we gonna do with Reno?" Cloud questioned, pointing to the man slumped over Sephiroth's shoulder.
"Lock Zack in the spare room and pass him food under the door for the next two weeks. As for Reno, we ditch him in the street before he has a chance to turn into some hideous creature."
"C'mon. Really. What are we gonna do with 'im?"
Sephiroth sighed at his idea being shot down. "Keep an eye on both of them for any changes. For now though, we'll have a movie marathon."
"No way. Last time we had a movie marathon I didn't sleep for an entire week."
"What about-" Sephiroth was almost instantly cut off.
"Oh! I know! Why don't we take Zack up to the park? We can leave Reno with Genesis for a while." Seph groaned.
"Or, you could take him up to the park, and I could stay home and gouge my own eyes out with a spoon. Genesis can still watch Reno."
"You're insufferable. C'mon Zack, I'll take you to the park." Cloud set Zack on the ground for the first time since he escaped and made his way out of the lab. Zack followed close by, his tail in the air, and his head cocked to the side which could be taken as the equivalent of being flipped off. Zack kept up his haughty appearance by trotting ahead, leaving Sephiroth behind.
"Fine. You win; I'll take him to the park with you. But first, you need to lose the attitude Zack." The pup turned and gave Sephiroth a little glare, but lost the 'holier than thou' attitude. Soon, they were at the elevator and once they piled in, they left the most dreaded floor in the entire building.
Finally, they reached their floor and began the short walk down the hall to Sephiroth's apartment. Zack all but ran to the door, leaving Cloud and Seph in the dust. "Zack, wait up," Cloud called, hustling slightly in an attempt to catch up without leaving Sephiroth behind. The taller male just strolled down the hall with his usual flair, having no desire to be back in his home. The quicker they reached the door, the quicker he'd be getting dragged to the park. All too soon, Sephiroth met Cloud and Zack at the door, swiping his keycard to get in. The three filed into the main room, and Sephiroth began closing the door, but before he could, something rather tender flung itself into the small gap left.
"Ouch! Damnit Seph," an annoyingly familiar voice called through the door. Sephiroth turned and saw the red gloved hand grabbing the edge of the door and forcing it open, revealing the pained face of Genesis. He sighed, knowing this couldn't end well.
"What do you want Genesis? I have important matters to attend to," the General stated. He could only hope Genesis didn't call him out on his bluff.
"I'm not here for you." Thank the Goddess. "I'm here for Cloud."
"What?"
"Lazard's been hounding me all day about where you two were. Speaking of—where were you and why is Reno drooling on your coat?"
Sephiroth instantly tossed Reno into the nearest chair, glaring at the wet spot on his leather coat. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you. So what does Lazard want?" Sephiroth asked, his patience already wearing thin. It seemed like he never had any patience left when talking to Genesis anymore.
"Tell me where you were first." Sephiroth just glared balefully. Genesis sent back a look of defiance.
"Hojo's lab. Now, what does Lazard want?"
"Why is Reno knocked out cold?"
"He got roofied by our very own mad scientist." Genesis just stared at the Turk slumped over in the chair.
"Wait, you mean Hojo drugged him? I'm really not all that cozy with the Turks, but I feel bad for him."
"So, what did Lazard want?"
"The cadets are being sent out tomorrow morning. Training mission." Cloud turned to Sephiroth as Genesis spun on his heel to leave. "They'll be gone for a few days. Have fun taking care of that—situation," Genesis threw the last comment over his shoulder as he shut the door behind him.
"I could always play sick," Cloud suggested, knowing if he left both Zack and Reno would be goners.
"No, you must go. I am completely capable of caring for two imbeciles while you're away." Cloud simply looked from Sephiroth, to Zack who was about to take off running again, to Reno who was still out cold, and back to Sephiroth.
"Are you sure about that?"
A/N: Okay, so to start off with this note, I would like to apologize. I'm sincerely sorry for my disappearance. The main reason for my absence was the fact that I lost motivation. I could just leave it at that, but I feel like I owe all my readers a bit more than a simple excuse like that. I've recently lost someone close to the family and had a suicide scare with my friend. On top of that, I lost my one of my best friends in the entire world. I guess that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I lost all motivation to do anything, so I feel as though this chapter is going to suffer from that to. I've only recently started to put my life back together, but it keeps falling back apart. Again, I'm so sorry for falling off the face of the Earth like I did. I owe all of my readers more than that. While I'm talking about my readers, I would like to thank those of you who have stuck with me this far from the bottom of my heart. My thanks go to those who have followed and Favorited, and to those of you who have even read the story this far, but especially to those who reviewed. I looked back at the reviews I got, and that helped me push out this chapter-though it may not be the best. Thank you Moonlight Blizzard, ValentineSin13, Project Hypocrisy, Melody Anna Kamiya Tudor, and especially zexydemy who has left wonderful feedback after every chapter and sticking with this story. Thanks everyone. I guess to finish off this endless note, I'll let you all know that I have no clue when I'll feel the motivation to post again. I don't know when I'll gather the pieces of my life back up and get back into the normal swing of things. I want to apologize ahead of time for that. I hope that you'll still stick with my story even though it may be months before I can get something posted. If you did, it'd absolutely mean the world to me. If you've read this note the whole way through, thanks again and sorry for being a bad author. ~Ales