Disclaimer: To Be Human is a fanfiction written in the Compilation of FFVII, with respect to the original canon and in accordance with the permissions of Fair Use as a transformative work. No profit is being made and the author only claims original characters used within to help flesh out the story.

A/N: Shoutout to you guys who have been reviewing. Seriously, you are my inspiration. Everyone else can thank you for me continuing to post this up so regularly.


"Hello ladies, gentlemen, and assorted others of questionable stances, today we're going to be watching the rare First Class grudge match via the monitoring station here." Kunsel rapped his knuckles on the console, chuckling at the eye roll from his director. "Yes, sir?"

"I don't know what Zack put in your coffee, Kunsel, but I would appreciate if you didn't give in to any more impulses for drama."

"Well, someone has to fill in for Red," Cissnei pointed out mildly, peering into the chamber. Sephiroth, Angeal, Zack and Balto had ended up together, though the cousins - and she was still wondering how she'd never guessed - were mostly there for support. Zack for referee, as the only one who stood a chance against either of the legendary warriors, and Katana for being the Turk with the best precision with curative materia. "This isn't going to actually become a grudge match, is it?"

"As entertaining and completely justified as that would be, Sephiroth can be counted on for better restraint than that," Lazard assured her. He'd considered staying in-office to watch, but this had become too personal to be so distant anymore. Ever since he'd come clean and tossed his lot in with his men for real, the personal stake in the outcome had weighed heavily on his shoulders.

He'd said it once to Zack before, but the price of freedom was high. And he couldn't shake the feeling they were all going to have to pay it they wanted to break their individual chains. Not knowing the price that would be asked of him was an uncertainty he bore only because there simply was no other option.

One might say it was 'funny' how many things in his life ended up that way, but the blond wasn't very amused at the moment. He certainly wasn't afraid to die for his beliefs, but living for them was an entirely different level of difficulty. Then again, when had his life ever been easy?

"So what's the goal here, anyway?"

"At the moment, the goal is seeing where Angeal's abilities stand," Lazard explained. "While he is certainly not in the dire straits Genesis is in, there's proof that he's degrading as well. Even if it's a slower rate, we still need to figure out how much so, primarily so we can find out some way to map out what sorts of changes he's undergoing and predict future ones."

"And short of Genesis himself - who is not only not here, but also in worse condition - Sephiroth is the best person to assess Angeal's condition in regards to the physical aspects, at least through the eyes of a fighter," Kunsel said. "They've fought together and against each other for years. Zack trained with him, too, but I don't think he ever got to where Angeal didn't have to hold back in some way under his training."

"One could argue that the polish and final honing that's made Zack such an impressive First is because he finished learning opposite Angeal as an opponent and peer, instead of from him as a student," Gun remarked, watching them square off. "I don't think I've ever actually seen him use that sword, despite carrying it everywhere. Did the general really have to insist?"

"Yep." Kunsel smirked. "Made it a straight-out order, even. It was a fun conversation."

"I'm not sure Angeal would have agreed."

"Angeal is, according to Zack, a stick in the mud," Kunsel said bluntly. "And I have to say that's not too off the mark. Besides, there's more to it than just a blade. It's a bit of a long story; the gist is that the man needs to use his damn blade for more than a fashion statement and last resort. And by last resort, I mean last. It's stupid to carry two swords, and only use the crap practice one when you have a beauty like his right there. The Buster Sword should never be a second choice of blade."

"It is a beauty," Yuda mused, coming to examine the view screen. "Blades aren't my specialty, but the metalwork on the hilt alone deserves appreciation. Katana was impressed by the craftsmanship of the entire piece."

"I'd gotten the impression that he has a pretty wide range of blade mastery." The SOLDIER considered it, glancing down at the Gongagan Turk down by Zack. "Interesting he ended up with you guys."

"Don't fish for clues from the Turks, Kunsel," Lazard chided.

"If they honestly can't outfox me, I consider the information well and truly earned," he disagreed. "It's a game, after a point."

"You SOLDIERs are all just big kids, aren't you?" Cissnei chuckled. "It's fine, Director. I like knowing there's an inquisitive mind under that helmet. Which you don't actually have to wear right now."

Kunsel was silent a moment, then took it off with a sheepish smile. "Habit, sorry. It's multipurpose headgear, though. Very useful."

"Mmhm. Travel bowl, bowling ball, quick access bucket, tiny creature cage-"

"I'm not sure at this point if it's good or bad I have stories to match most of those," Lazard muttered, adjusting the recording parameters again. "They're starting."

"Let the games begin," Kunsel murmured. This wasn't something people got to watch, not even the rest of SOLDIER; barring a few exhibition matches where he knew they had drastically slowed themselves down and checked the strength of their blows for the sake of the audience, the legendary trio didn't spar where anyone could watch. And the fact that it was 'only' Sephiroth and Angeal didn't make it any less impressive. Even weakened as he was, Angeal was stronger than most Firsts could ever hope to be in their prime. Sephiroth was beyond phenomenal when he truly let go.

Actually, watching the two relax a bit more into the spar, their speed beginning to pick up and the clash of blades gaining enough force that their Turk-medic-on-call backed up a few paces behind Zack… that was still incredible. He'd known theoretically what they were capable of, but seeing was believing, as the phrase went.

Even seeing, it was hard to believe. Getting to, regardless of the bad circumstances, was a privilege and genuine pleasure.


Closing his eyes, he refocused on some of the other issues, namely how exactly they could track down Genesis. Especially when he had clones to throw them off his trail and what sounded like dozens of potential hiding spots that he could lay low at for extended periods of time. But his thoughts were interrupted, as closing his eyes only brought his other senses into focus and there was an unpleasantly high pitched chirping somewhere nearby.

Squinting, he peered around at the others, but no one else seemed to notice. Then again, with that particularly high pitch, maybe the unenhanced wouldn't hear anything. Which made him wonder just what it was making such a sound.

Scanning the room intently, he finally got up and started trying to track it by the sound. Given how irritating it was, his ears certainly noticed when he was getting closer-

"Bug," one of the Turks spoke up quickly, pointing near his boots with an expression of disgust.

Kunsel glanced down, surprised to see a roach of all things, and knelt to get it as the insect tried to scrabble away. Even on the way down to a crouch, it was quickly clear that the high pitched noise was coming from the bug. And when he grabbed it up in one gloved hand, he quickly realized that it wasn't at all what it looked like.

"Well now, what have we here?" He flicked at the front with his fingertip, noticing a small blue light blinking near its antennae.

"That's not a roach. What in the gods name is it?" Gun demanded, coming a little closer to get a better look and narrowing her eyes as what she'd thought was a roach blinked its light at her.

"I'm going to guess it's either a toy, or a really clever monitoring device," Kunsel admitted, flipping it onto its back in his palm and ignoring the vile smelling oily black liquid it started squirting everywhere. "Extremely clever; if you weren't paying attention you'd never realize it was a fake."

"What's a fake?" The door to the training room hissed open and closed, Zack stepping out to grab himself a water bottle. "They're mostly talking now, figured I could use some water… what did you find?"

"This little guy," Kunsel gestured to the squirming little thing in his hand, noting the blue light had gone out. "It's not what it looks like. There was a light on earlier, like a tiny bulb. I think maybe it was some sort of mini camera setup."

"I'm still not sure it's a fake," Zack admitted, squinting at it. "You're sure it's a fake? Seriously? Who makes creepy crawlie camera bugs, anyway?"

"Someone far, far too clever for our good," Lazard said, finally coming over to see what was going on and getting at his belt. "Here, wait."

Kunsel took the small knife when it was offered. "Thanks, Director. Now, let's get this little guy open…"

"It's starting to smoke, Kuns," Zack warned, coming closer to get a better view.

"It's frying itself from the inside," Kunsel muttered, wrenching the bottom open in time to see a spit of sparks, the insides melting together into a mass of ruined circuits. "I've got to be honest, this is a little out of my league. But yeah, this was definitely some sort of mechanical thing; I'm betting on a spying unit, even if only a prototype."

"So someone, somewhere, knows about… all this, whether or not that was their original goal," Zack guessed, scowling. "That's probably a really not-good thing for several reasons."

"The director is going to be livid," Cissnei predicted, coming around him to get a proper look at the smoldering remains on the SOLDIER's glove. "What a mess."

"Well, call him and let him know." Zack shrugged. "It's all we can do. I'll go break it to Sephiroth."

"You're sure you want to disturb the general right now?"

The First glanced back at her, arching a brow, and repeated himself slowly. "I will go break it to General I-do-not-like-being-uninformed Sephiroth."

"General Sephiroth really, really does not take well to being left in the dark about security breaches, which I'm pretty sure this is." Kunsel gestured for Zack to go, looking at his glove with distaste. "We need some sort of containment thing for this, guys. Any ideas?"

"I don't think we have anything sterile on hand…" Cissnei frowned. "Which risks some further contamination for something that's already partially self-destructed, crawled on the floor, and rolled around on your glove."

"I sent a note to Tseng, he'll see something is sent our way for it." Emma came around the console, glaring at the twitching device. "Evil."

"I'm honestly pretty impressed, myself," Kunsel admitted. "Do you seriously know what the odds were that it would be spotted for what it was? Did anyone else get tipped off? Anyone? Particularly people trained for this stuff?"

"We get the point, Kunsel; someone else should have noted we were literally bugged." Lazard sighed. "What makes it so special?"

"Absolutely nothing, outwardly." Kunsel shook his head. "That is what makes it so strange. The level of detail here, from its appearance down to the way it moved, even… whoever made it either has a thing for bugs, or is extremely detail oriented. Even more than me, because I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't come close enough to hear it."

"Hear it?"

"Enhanced senses include hearing," he explained. "The pitch it gave off was high, but not too high to detect - yet high enough to be really uncomfortable. That's how I knew it wasn't just a strange roach."

"So, someone with attention to detail but not enough exposure to enhanced individuals to make adjustments accordingly." Emma scowled. "That doesn't narrow it down much."

"It may remove AVALANCHE from the equation," Yuda pointed out. The martial artist had been more inclined to stay back and observe, but came over to see now. Flicking her hair back over her shoulder, she frowned at the blackened circuits that had been exposed. "They have their own enhanced operatives to test things on after all."

"So either we have a new player to contend with, or it's an inside job." Lazard sighed. "Great. That might be better, but I'm not counting on it."

"Well, no, probably shouldn't," Kunsel admitted. "But you can't ignore it. And the level of understanding not only the mechanics needed to make such a small device but one so convincingly disguised, and get it up to this floor, does start narrowing things down."

"We need to consider their interest in this particular room," Sephiroth remarked, coming back with Zack and Angeal behind him. "If you were going to go through such effort, one would generally not spend it on getting a device to the training rooms. At least it's not a typical line of thought. There's nothing to be gained here for any certainty but a recording of SOLDIERs coming in and out of training matches. The likelihood of people being here, and having a discussion of any importance, is not high."

"So someone may have known about this." Kunsel concluded.

"Unlikely is not impossible," the First mused, expression thoughtful. "All things to consider, certainly."

"Yeah, well, if they have another one in the area and would like to 'fess up, that'd be great, because we're kinda busy right now," Zack said, making a gesture to the room at large as if the person were there to hear him.

"I'm not sure it works that way," Sephiroth said mildly, though his lips twitched towards a smile.

"Unlikely is not impossible," the teen quoted back at him. "Sure can't hurt at this point."

"I suppose you're right," he conceded, green eyes flicking back when the elevator down the hall brought a familiar lanky redhead up to them. And in his hands, an unopened sample case. "Bringing it back for inspection, then."

"Yep. Gonna take it back so me an' Rude can take a look, yo." Reno nodded, pulling on a pair of sterile gloves and opening the case. "Well, when he gets back from his trip. Shouldn't be too long. You mind lettin' the glove go, SOLDIER boy? Be nice t' get a look at all the stuff on it."

"Go ahead, it's wrecked for work, anyway." Kunsel eased it off, tucking it and the destroyed device into the case. "Hey Zack? You have a pen?"

"Kuns, when you're around I always have a pen," Zack promised, tone on the dry side of amused as he got a small notepad and a smaller pen out of his pocket. "Got a notebook today, too. Alllll for you, buddy."

"Thanks." Kunsel grinned, taking it from him and flicking it open. The pen went to the ungloved hand, writing quickly, and Sephiroth made a quiet sound.

"You're ambidextrous?"

The younger SOLDIER paused his writing briefly, glancing at him in surprise. "Yeah, actually I am."

"Your handwriting is different than I recalled from handwritten reports," he explained after a moment. "I assumed a change of hands was the cause."

Kunsel chuckled softly, nodding. "Exactly that, yeah."

"A man of many, many talents, our Kunsel." Zack grinned.

"We've all got talents, mine just happen to also be useful and worth note." He resumed filling the page with his own type of shorthand, a combination of characters, numbers and symbols that had evolved over the years to fit his own needs. It was handy for getting a lot of information down in a small area, and had ended up as good security since it wasn't something easily decrypted just due to the nature of development.

"Whatcha makin' notes of?" Reno asked, curious now that he'd gotten the container secured and marked, sterile gloves peeled off and stuffed in a pocket.

"What I noticed about it," he explained, still writing once he flipped the sheet to get at the back. "Anything that comes to mind, anything that could be related that I might be able to puzzle through later. I'll make another set of notes later in an hour or so, without having looked at this, and then compare the two - see the differences, what stuck with me in particular, and make a final set. See what I can get out of it all."

Reno looked at him for a moment before shaking his head with a grin. "Boss is gonna love you, kid. Hey, Zack, you mind if I borrow your buddy?"

"I kinda do, yeah," Zack admitted. "I'm very attached. And that sounds like you'd like to keep him, and you can't."

"Hey, hey, don't start that. No." Kunsel capped the pen, pointing it at Zack until he pouted at him, then pointing it at Reno. "I'd be happy to swap notes later. Maybe we can do a small group assessment thing? Zack and I are always a good team to put together - we work well off each other. So maybe the two of us, and whichever tier of boss you meant? Keeping both departments informed seems a good precedent for both sides to set, right?"

There was a long moment of silence before Reno held out a hand. "You've got yourself a deal, yo. This'll be great. Who knew SOLDIER was hidin' guys like you?"

"Not the Turks, apparently." Zack hummed, bouncing on his toes and snatching the pen out of the air when Kunsel threw it at him, offering him a wide smile that was all teeth and satisfaction with himself. "Hey now, behave. I'm pretty sure I still outrank you."

"I'm not sure how applicable that is if I became liason between SOLDIER and the Department of Administrative Research," Kunsel mused, taking the sheets he'd finished and tucking them away. "Pretty sure that's a shinier title than just SOLDIER First Class."

"Shiny doesn't always win!"

"I'm pretty sure shiny always wins," Kunsel insisted. "It does with you."

"I have it on good authority that 'shiny' wins, and also happens to outrank the both of you."

There was a beat of silence as various people in the room realized just who had spoken. Sephiroth merely offered a small smile, a slow tilt of his head catching the light on his hair. It didn't take long for Zack to start snickering, or for Reno to burst out laughing.

"I'm guessing if I told anyone you called yourself shiny I'd be laughed all the way to the psyche ward." Kunsel sighed, smirking faintly at his general. He'd never seen the man quite so relaxed. Or no, that wasn't quite right. There was still definitely tension there, tension that hadn't been there before Genesis had led the mass desertion, but there was something a bit lighter. Hope, maybe. With Angeal back, there was finally a tangible line of hope, and that made all the difference.

"Sometimes the craziest thing is, in fact, the truth," the general pointed out mildly. "Are you attempting to adopt one of my SOLDIERs, Turk?"

"What? No! I mean, wait, can I? You up for adoption, Kunsel?" Reno looked him over. "Aren't you like, a legal adult? Or at least SOLDIER-therefore-adult?"

"He's not up for adoption." Zack huffed, shaking the pen at the Turk for emphasis.

"I'm really not, no." Kunsel chuckled. "But yeah, a liason position? I could do that. Keep everybody in the loop - communication solves a lot of problems."

"And lack of clear communication starts a lot." Cissnei ducked around Zack, taking the pen from him. "You're going to burst that all over your hand."

Zack blinked at her, belatedly closing his hand and dropping it to his side. "I was not! And I'm wearing gloves!"

She gave him a blatantly disbelieving look before turning her attention back to Reno. "You can't adopt him, Reno. SOLDIER is a bit shorthanded, for one, and for another the last person you brought in still isn't fully house trained."

"What?" Bright eyes rolled a bit as the redhead ran that through his head. "Hey now, I'm tellin' him you said that, yo! That's not right."

"He leaves the seat up," she reminded him darkly, turning to Kunsel. "We'll run it by Tseng when we see him later. It's a good idea to have a go-between on both sides."

"Sounds good. Pen, please?" He held a hand out. "It's mine."

"Zack had it," Cissnei observed.

"That makes it absolutely zero percent less mine," Kunsel said, wiggling his fingers. "Pen, please? He keeps it."

"Kunsel's a pen biter." Zack offered up the explanation a little too readily, as far as the man in question was concerned. "I've been the keeper of pens for years."

"Keeper of pens." Cissnei shook her head, handing it back to Zack. "Don't break it, then; it's not yours."

"Yes'm." Zack grinned, taking it back and putting it in his pocket. "It's a really nice pen, anyway; doesn't smear, very durable, fine point. I wasn't going to snap it."

"They don't usually get broken that way, when they do break," Kunsel promised. "He's a very good pen keeper."

"Impressive." She drawled. "Reno, let's go take a look at that bug, shall we? I'm sure Tseng's waiting for the preliminary report."

The redhead nodded, giving a mock salute to the others. "Catch you later or somethin' SOLDIERs."

"Or something." Cissnei agreed, following him out.


"So…did I really hear you say you wanted to adopt the Second just now?" Shuriken gave the older Turk an amused look. "Were you serious or just baiting Zack?"

"Baitin' Zack is a little too easy most days, and increasingly more deadly. Not that it stops me, exactly, 'm just sayin' I try t' pick an' choose my battles," Reno pointed out, looking at the little container. "'s just real impressive that he spotted it just like that though, y'know? For what it was, I mean. The guy's clever. If his file isn't flagged, I'm puttin' one in for that."

"For him being clever?"

"For Zack Fair's best friend havin' atypical intelligence leanin' of above SOLDIER averages, 'specially for his rank," he corrected dryly. "More than clever, yo - he's got a quick mind that he knows how t' use, an' he's a walkin' resource for Fair. If he wants t' be our resource too I'm all over that. Jungle boy has pull, more than he knows, so whoever tilts his scales - an' how - is particularly important right now."

She chuckled softly at that, nodding in agreement. "I think sometimes, Reno, I forget how smart you are."

Of course, those sly aqua eyes went wide and innocent in ways no Turk should be able to, the effect twisted more towards 'naughty child' than innocent when he grinned. "Don't know what you're talkin' 'bout, yo, I'm just a Slum kid they put in a suit. Desperate times an' all that, y'know?"

"You're not fooling anyone, Reno."

"You'd be real surprised, Cissy." The elevator bobbed to a halt, and of course Tseng was waiting for them with his eyes quickly focusing on the containment box in Reno's hands. "Got somethin' interestin' to look at, Commander. Really interesting. Figured I could make some notes before Rude gets in. An' d'you think can I get into Fair's buddy Kunsel's file? Wanna see what's in there, maybe add some notes for our use too."

Veld's second gave him a curious look but nodded. "It should be well within your clearance level. I'd be interested in getting a copy of whatever you felt worth note in need of being added immediately. I leave the investigation of the device you've found to you as well, and Rude should be back this afternoon; I imagine he'd appreciate something in his pet specialty to work on."

"Yeah, he always finds the fiddly bits of tech fun t' work with. He's cool that way." Reno smirked, shaking his head. "You'll get notes when I copy 'em to the director. You know if Rude's mission was a success? Pretty sure Legend has an impressive track record with innovative techie things. Especially ones that blow up, yeah? Could use another pair of eyes on it."

"I believe he was successful, yes. You'll have to take it up with the others as to how much time Legend may have to provide assistance, but I'm sure there are other analysts can be brought in if the department doesn't have someone already."

"I'll see who we have on call." Cissnei offered. "Have fun."

"Oh I will." Reno smirked, fingers tapping the case. "You can count on that, yo."