Summary: Sometimes acting on that homicidal impulse is the right thing to do. Pre-crazy Sephiroth.

Disclaimer: I waive whatever rights I'm supposed to be waiving here.

A/N: This is a short chunk, probably should have been tacked on to last chapter. Blah.

"You got him? Wow." Reno had arrived in the utility area just inside the east door.

"Cloud did it," Zack said, and Reno looked at the young man with new respect. Cloud looked away, miserable.

"I need to bind him with something, something non-flammable or he'll just burn it off. Wire maybe." Zack scanned his surroundings.

"No problem," Reno said, and produced two pair of manacles out of his bottomless pit of a suit jacket.

"Those will hold Soldier?" Zack asked.

"Yup"

"First class?"

"Yup"

"Sephiroth?"

"Maybe."

Zack tried hard to ignore the implications of the existence of these devices and just be grateful the Turk had them. They bound Sephiroth's wrists behind a large iron pipe that ran from floor to ceiling and shackled his ankles together, his long legs stretching out on the floor in front of him. Zack reluctantly stepped away from his unconscious commander to confer with Reno. But they didn't get much time to speak. The cold and oddly seductive sound of Sephiroth's voice made all the hair on Zack's neck stand up.

"I wouldn't have expected this of you, Zack. To betray me."

Zack swallowed what felt like dust in his throat. So he was awake already.

"Don't try to burn or bust those off, Seph. Special Turk stuff," he said. He tried to sound businesslike, but he was sure his voice shook.

Sephiroth regarded the Turk and his Second, who stood rather cozily across the room. So this was a coordinated action. He should have known the company would eventually move against him. They would take him and put him back in some lab, fill his veins with some chemical and keep him in a tube, maybe for the rest of his life. He had been a fool to let himself think he was free now that Hojo was gone.

And to top it all off his head hurt worse than before. Now there was a new pain in the back. At least he liked this pain better. He could concentrate on it and distract himself from the first. But he had trouble thinking, and thinking was what he needed since he had already tested the bonds on his wrists and damn if they weren't tough as hell. Zack was where he needed to focus his efforts.

"The phone call was a nice touch. Did you come up with that one, Zack?"

Instead of looking guilty, Zack looked confused. "What phone call?"

"The phone message from the hospital saying Tessa was there. A woman's voice, did you hire a local for that job?"

Zack still looked confused. Too bad, Sephiroth thought, probably all Turk doing so no way to push Zack's guilt buttons with that one. Odd thing was that Reno also looked confused.

"Seph," Zack started slowly, "where were you heading?"

Now it was Sephiroth's turn to be confused. But lacking any other ideas he bit. "To the hospital, where did you think I was heading?"

Something flooded over Zack's face that Sephiroth couldn't read. The young Soldier let out a long breath that he hadn't known he was holding.

"To the middle of the reactor to reunite with the alien creature that donated your bizarre DNA and might be talking to you inside your head telling you to burn the down the town."

Zack grimaced at the absurd sound of it all and then looked sheepishly at his commander. Sephiroth stared back at him, the wave of relief releasing the tightness in his chest. Zack had not betrayed him. Zack thought they were in the dream sequence. When he considered carefully it was ridiculous to suspect Zack in the first place; his ire and headache must have been muddling his thoughts. But Sephiroth hadn't had any indication or warning that they were following the dream, and he should probably still punish his Second for idiotically opposing him with a live weapon and then trussing him up like an animal. And the Turk too. But he needed to get free first.

"Zachary, untie me," he said evenly.

But Zack was distracted, still puzzling over something. "Why would the hospital call you? OH! Because she was in there for the pregnancy test."

"Pregnancy… test?" Sephiroth asked.

Zack knelt and turned his violet eyes to him, now smiling a little, "Yeah, you're going to be a daddy."

A stab of excited joy filled Sephiroth, and then was suddenly squelched by something ugly and negative. Fear. Anger. Jealousy of all things. But that just wasn't right; he wanted children, didn't he? Nerves he thought, and pushed the negative feelings hard aside and was relieved to find the joy still under it. He smiled a little.

"Untie me Zack, I assure you I have no notion to be burning Nibelheim to the ground."

But now Zack was looking at him with intense concern and concentration. "What were you just mouthing?"

"What?"

"Your lips were moving just now."

"Because I was talking."

Zack shook his head. At that moment Tessa walked in. Sephiroth's heart jumped, then those negative feelings hit him again. He pushed them aside again. Damn it he would get this fear of fatherhood under control.

"Baby?" he said. She smiled, and nodded.

"Baby."

He smiled at her, but she was giving him the same look as Zack had. They were both giving him the look.

"What?" he demanded. They ignored him.

"Do you remember him ever doing that before?" she said softly, apparently to Zack. Zack shook his head.

"I don't think he knows he's doing it," he said.

Then Tessa bent forward until her cheek lay against Sephiroth's and her lips were near his ear. She stroked his face, a touch so soft and affectionate that he leaned into a bit despite the infuriating circumstances. Her cool fingers were so soothing, and his head hurt so much.

"I love you with all my heart," she said, "But you're sitting this one out."

Then he felt a sharp prick to the muscles on the side of his neck and when she pulled her hand away he could see the empty syringe. He struggled wildly against his bonds even as his vision began to blur.

"Bitch!" he snarled, "What did I do, marry fucking Hojo?" Then his breathing became labored as his head fell forward.

"He didn't mean that," Zack said gently.

"Oh yes he did," Tessa said, her smile cold and hard. "And he's right. I found this shit in Hojo's lab and I just pumped him full of it. It's a compound designed specifically to control him."

Zack looked away, unable to think of something to counter with. He looked over to Sephiroth, head down, face obscured by the curtain of silver.

"We can't leave him here like this," he said. "He's vulnerable."

"What has he ever been vulnerable to?" Reno asked, exasperated. "He's practically goddam indestructible! What, are you afraid somebody's going to come along and molest him?"

Zack looked at him stubbornly.

"OK, OK, there should be a locked and armored room for materia storage. We could stick him in there. At least nobody else could get at him. Tessa, how long is that stuff good for? And do you have more?"

"It should be twelve hours, but I can't be sure. I probably have enough for one more shot."

"So we give him, what, four hours just to be safe, then come back and check on him."