Summary: The Turks have much to share with Zack, and much to offer as well. Plus, there've been some interesting developments at Shinra that will have a big effect on our young heroes' lives.

Chapter 14: Just a Casual Visit from an Old Friend

"I'm afraid I need you to come with me."

The words were polite, but they came from a Turk. A tiny Turk, but a well-trained and experienced one.

"How about 'no'." It was the only answer he could give.

Zack planted his feet and waited for Round 2. His stance was loose, ready to shift into battle mode. He'd never fought Shuriken, but he'd sparred with Tseng a time or two. It would probably be an even match. Too bad about all the newly built buildings next to them.

The crowd started to undulate. Some people pushed closer. Some backed away. Those people may not have recognized the woman in the blue suit as a Turk, but on some level, they knew she was dangerous.

Cissnei didn't attack. Her hands remained folded in front of her in a deliberate show of meekness. "We just have some questions about your whereabouts last night."

Aerith spoke up, puzzled. "You should know where he was last night."

"We can use that report, certainly," Cissnei staying meek in a way Zack distrusted. "Of course, then we'd have to explain to the whole board why the Turks were watching Ms Gainsborough's house."

Assholes, Zack thought.

He could assume it was a bluff – Tseng had been protecting Aerith for a long time and Zack didn't think the reasons for that choice had disappeared. However, he couldn't trust it. As soon as it became more convenient (or safer) for Tseng to turn Aerith over to Shinra, the Turk would do it. He'd already proven that.

What to do? He absolutely did not want to go anywhere near Shinra Tower.

Zack gave Cissnei a wide smile. "Well, how about you ask me your questions here? I got nothing to hide about where I was last night." He made his smile a little rueful. "As long as you don't tell Mrs Gainsborough where I was this morning…."

Aerith leaned forward. "We were having sex," she said plainly. "I enjoyed it very much."

There were coughs and shuffling, and a lot of red faces. The baby Turk, with the asymmetrical blonde hair was as red as Aerith's jacket. Zack could only hope his dusky skin hid his own blush. Cissnei, however, was a calm and still as ever. "This is an official enquiry, Zack."

"And why should I care, Cissnei?" He mimicked her tone exactly.

"You're still a SOLDIER," the blonde one said. "Still a member of –"

From the corner of his eye, he saw Cissnei wince, but Zack focused on the blonde. "Don't."

As one, the gathered crowd took a step back. He took a breath and pushed the fury down. "You don't want to finish that sentence."

"But she has a point, Zack," Cissnei said calmly. "As a citizen of –"

Again, Zack interrupted. "A citizen of what, exactly? The empire? Shinra's a company not a country. And even if it were a country, you have to be alive to be a citizen, and –" He used air quotes "–officially, I'm dead."

"You know that's not true."

"Really?" He put his hands on his hips and used lots of derision. "I haven't seen anything on any of Shinra's huge fucking bulletin boards announcing my miraculous return."

The blonde Turk looked between him and Cissnei anxiously. He might've felt some sympathy for her, getting caught between rock and an immovable object, but she'd joined the Turks, so his sympathy was small.

To her credit, Cissnei didn't flinch. She didn't break eye contact as she slowly and deliberately took the PHS from her pocket. She didn't seem to dial a number, but in a moment she spoke. "Tell Reno he lost the bet. Not that he'll be surprised."

So, they hadn't expected him to just go along. What would be their next tactic, Zack wondered?

"Who is she talking to?" Tifa asked in a too-loud whisper.

"Her boss," Aerith answered.

There was a soft irritating hum that kept him from hearing the voice of the person on the other side of the call, but it had to be Tseng.

Zack kept quiet, arms crossed, and let the silence play out. For once, Zack wished he was wearing his SOLDIER First uniform again. There was just something about the black outfit that screamed 'intimidation'.

Cissnei listened and made little noises that could mean anything.

Finally, she nodded. "Understood, sir." She clicked the PHS shut.

Tifa stepped forward. She was practically vibrating from the tension. "There's places down here to talk, if it's that important."

Cissnei's gold-brown eyes flicked to the fighter. "Like your bar, Seventh Heaven?" she said. "I'm sure it has lots of secret areas in which to hold private conversations."

"Well, shit," Zack said lightly, even as his mind raced. "Guess you know about the Avalanche hide-out in the basement."

He heard Tifa's hissed breath but ignored it. The Turks already knew about their Avalanche connection because they'd given Barret that reactor map.

"It predates the current owners," Cissnei said calmly. "Perhaps Ms Lockhart was unaware."

It was to be an exchange of information then.

"I won't go above the plate," he said. "Not to Shinra HQ, not to the Goblin Bar. Not even to the train tracks."

"Lunchroom at Beginner's Hall?" Tifa suggested.

Zack nodded. "Sure. Have to collect our reward anyway."

"That is acceptable," Cissnei agreed. Zack let her lead and wasn't surprised when she walked directly to Wymer.

Wymer, poor man, looked distressed at the Turks and the crowd and everyone watching as if it were a stage play. "Uhh," he stammered.

"This hasn't got anything to do with you, Wymer. You can relax," Zack said. "We just need the reward."

"Uhh, sure," he said. He dug a heavy pouch out from a hidden pocket and handed it over. Zack took it and looked around the crowd. He recognized a young boy, maybe fourteen, that was often around the Beginner's Hall. "Mott," he called the boy over. "You know the wrap place on Bendover?" The boy nodded. Zack dug some coins out of the pouch. "Go get two horns fully loaded, and a horn with extra sauce no peppers. Tifa?" he called out. "What you want from Duardo's"

Tifa's eyes were huge and nervous. He gave her a reassuring wink. "Uh," she swallowed. "Tofu and mushroom."

Except for the Turks, everyone in earshot turned to look at the fighter.

"What?" she said defensively to everyone. "Dual horn meat tastes weird here."

Zack shrugged. The point of the exercise wasn't the food, after all, but showing the Turks that they were in Zack's home territory, not theirs. Tifa's weird choice worked just fine for that.

"Do you have new data for me, Zack?" Chadley asked from beside Wymer.

Aerith answered him. "Later, Chadley, okay?"

He fiddled with his monocle. "If the Turks are arresting you, I may never see you again. Your data will be lost."

"They're not arresting us," Tifa said. She turned to Cissnei "You're not arresting us, right?"

Cissnei nearly sighed. "We're not arresting anyone. And our request for information only applies to Zackary Fair."

"Oh, but I'm a witness to his whereabouts," Aerith said with a bounce.

"So am I," Tifa added, with a look in Zack's direction. "We talked on the PHS. To organize the thing. Today."

They hadn't talked, but whatever. Zack waved a hand at his two companions. "Always good to have witnesses." He smiled.

This time Cissnei did sigh.

Eventually they moved to a small room in the lower floor of the hall. It was where the neighbourhood watch was supposed to take statements from people before posting a job. What actually happened was people walked up to whoever was on the porch outside and started talking. Eventually the interview room had turned into a small lunchroom with a cooler and a heater, and a pretty picture on the wall instead of a window. It was the most secure room in the place and would fit the five of them easily.

Or, when it became necessary, it would even fit six.

Tifa made tea while the Turks checked the room for recording devices and set up their own anti-eavesdrop equipment. Aerith stood with her staff held in front of her watching them. Zack stood next to her, arms crossed, waiting once again. She was a line of warmth down his left side.

He was faking it pretty good, but Zack was nervous. This was his first serious encounter with Shinra forces since they'd tried to kill him on the cliff top. It felt like he was establishing himself somehow. Making them see him as Zack Fair, human being – no longer a SOLDIER, no longer a Shinra asset. No longer disposable.

The food came moments after Tseng walked through the door holding a thick attaché bag. The Turk waited until the food had been handed over and the change refused. He nodded at each of them in turn and said their names with a familiarity he shouldn't have.

Tifa frowned at the intimidating Turk who knew her name, but she still offered him tea.

The tea, Zack wasn't surprised to note, was set neutrally in the middle. Powdered cream and fake sugar in little bowls, and six cups.

Well, he supposed, they were playing host.

Tseng watched them pull their wraps out of the bag. "Whenever you're ready," he said impassively.

Zack accepted the plate from Aerith and sat in a chair on their side of the table. He took a huge bite of his wrap – the biggest he could fit in his mouth – and chewed without shame.

Tseng watched without changing expressions. "Do we really need an audience, Zack?"

Aerith raised her hand. "Not an audience," she said before licking juice from her wrist.

"Witnesses," Tifa added. She was cutting her wrap in half.

"Just get on with it," Zack said once his mouth was empty enough. It wasn't empty-empty, but Tseng didn't even wince.

"Very well," Tseng conceded. "However, know that if word of what we discuss here today gets out into the wider community, there will be repercussions. Severe repercussions."

The two women looked somewhat cowed, so Zack just put his thumb up. "Got it." Tseng looked like he was going to say something more, before deciding not to bother. Zack would take that as a win.

Instead, the Turk opened his fancy pouch and took out a small device. It had a screen which was displaying the Shinra Electric Power Company logo, spinning and glowing like a star in the heavens.

It made Zack want to puke.

"Last night, at approximately 11:05 President Roman Shinra was murdered at his desk."

Zack stopped chewing. Aerith froze with her wrap halfway to her mouth. Tifa choked on hers.

Tseng touched the screen, and the logo disappeared, replaced with grainy black-and-white security footage with a time stamp in the corner from 11:02 PM. The footage flicked through the upper floor of the Shinra Tower, where only the highest of the high were allowed to tread. There were helmeted security guards standing in empty halls guarding mostly empty offices.

"Why does it jump like that?" Tifa asked.

"A picture is taken at two to six second intervals in a random pattern that is reset every few hours," Cissnei explained. "It makes it so the camera can't be looped."

Zack wasn't sure what that meant but it sounded secure.

"This is the relevant portion," Tseng said, bringing their attention back to the small screen. The image moved to the president's office and stayed. Roman Shinra, president of the largest company the world had ever seen, stood at the window, lording it over the world's largest city. A city he had built and rebuilt as if bored. A jump later he was seated at his desk smiling at whatever he saw in front of him.

Tseng paused the playback. "The assassin appears for the first time here. And when I say 'appears' that is exactly what I mean. We have searched the security footage for all levels and access points. There's nothing."

The image jumped to the landing pad outside the president's office. Zack put his wrap down and leaned closer to the screen. Off to one side, nearly completely off screen, a slim, long-coated figure touched down light as thistledown. Long hair billowed as if for a shampoo commercial.

"Holy shit," he breathed.

Tifa's breathing sped up. "Isn't that General Sephiroth?"

"Not a general," Zack replied, not looking away from the screen.

"What?" Tifa said. "Of course, he's a general. He's the general."

Tseng paused the playback. "SOLDIERs have no military rank."

"But…" Tifa sounded stunned.

"Sephiroth was given control in Wutai because he'd literally been built for war, like, since he was a foetus," Zack added.

Tseng looked sharply at Zack. "Where did you hear that?"

Zack rolled his eyes. "Hojo," he said. "Who else would brag about experimenting on his own unborn child."

"Sephiroth is Hojo's child?" That time it was Aerith being shocked. Their wraps sat in front of them, forgotten.

"Can we return to the video?" Tseng asked. It wasn't really a question.

Zack asked Tseng to go back to landing pad when the figure first touched down. "I think we can all agree that that looks like Sephiroth," Zack said.

"But he's dead." Tifa pointed out.

"So am I," he reminded her. She didn't look reassured, but then he hadn't meant to be reassuring.

The angle shifted to inside the room, where Roman Shinra stood up. He looked angry, but not scared. Sephiroth paced in front of the desk once, twice, three times. He seemed to be talking, or maybe demanding, because the president laughed at him. Even with the poor quality and the bad angles, it was easy to see President Shinra dismissing Sephiroth as unimportant.

And then Sephiroth ran the president through with Masamune, pinning the old man to his overstuffed chair.

"Where'd the sword come from?" Zack asked.

"It just materialized," Tseng said. "However, it remained after Sephiroth left. It's being analyzed."

"Huh," Zack said. "Did he go after anyone else?" he asked to give himself time to think.

"No." Cissnei's voice was dispassionate. "But the remains of the Ancient, Jenova, were mutilated."

Aerith's soft, "Jenova's not an Ancient," was drowned by Tifa's louder demand. "What does that mean?"

"A portion of her torso was taken," Tseng answered. " We can't say if it was … the same person because the security cameras in the storage area shorted out."

"Did they now," Zack said. "And was that before or after President Shinra was skewered?"

"Before," Tseng answered. "Only moments before."

"So not enough time for someone to run from the labs on 67 to Shinra's office on 70?"

"Hojo's labs are now on the 65th and 66th floors," Tseng told them. "Fewer containment issues."

"Still, only someone with the speed of a SOLDIER could make it so fast," Elena said.

Zack flicked his gaze at her. "There are more enhanced people than you'd think," he said mildly. He looked back at Tseng. "You know it wasn't me who did this. I would've cut Hojo's balls off as my first choice, and if I bothered with the president, I'd've just dropped him off the roof. So why are you here?"

Tseng carefully folded his hands on the table in front of him. It was a tell, but it was a deliberate one. Tseng was unnerved, and he wanted Zack to know it.

"Four years ago, Sephiroth was classified as KIA, as you were. Hojo objected. Given the nature and concentration of the mako he fell into, no one took Hojo's objections seriously." Tseng leaned forward, "The president's office is biometrically scanned when a new presence is detected. The scans matched, not perfectly, but close enough."

Zack laughed. "You're telling me Sephiroth killed the president."

"Or someone with enough genetic similarities to register as Sephiroth." Tseng's pause was minute but telling: this theory wasn't his. "The board knows you were injected with many Project S cells during your captivity, and have concluded that anything else is… improbable."

"Tonberries are improbable, but they exist," Zack muttered. He scrubbed a hand through his hair. He wanted to get up and move, but the room was too small for how he was feeling. Besides, he didn't want Tseng to see him unsettled.

"Genesis survived a drop into mako," he continued. "Hell, I was immersed in a tank of the stuff for a year, and I'm still alive. Why's it so hard to believe Sephiroth survived?"

"Don't wanna admit their star creation is a crazy psychopath," Tifa sneered.

Aerith said, "Or it serves someone's purpose to deny the truth."

"Or the whole board is hiding their heads in the sand in the hopes he'll skip them and kill the next guy." Zack had met most of the board members. He doubted they'd changed.

"Or perhaps it's all of those things," Tseng said calmly.

"Hmm," Zack hummed agreement. "Still doesn't explain why you came down here to talk to me."

"Our investigation has to be thorough," Cissnei said.

Zack shook his head. "I could skin off twenty kilos and put on high heels, and I still wouldn't look or move like Sephiroth. You knew this wasn't me in a wig, so why are you here." He didn't look at anybody but Tseng, the number one Turk who wore his hair down as if he was foresworn but who still acted like Shinra's lapdog.

Tseng met him, look for look.

There was the barest hint of a twitch around the lips before Tseng looked away. He reopened the pouch and pulled out a folder.

"This folder contains everything required to reinstate you as SOLDIER," Tseng said. He laid light fingertips on the beige cardboard. "You'll be paid all back wages due you. There will be public announcements confirming your honourable service over the last five years." He flicked a quick glance at Cissnei. "Although, your fan club has reactivated, apparently, and is already spreading word of your return." Cissnei shifted once in her seat, and Zack wondered what in Tseng's statement had made her nervous.

Before he could ask, Tseng continued. "It will also include any promotions you might have missed." He looked at Zack. "It adds up to nearly fifty gil more per hour, and danger pay of five thousand gil for each mission."

Tseng's finely shaped fingers stroked the folder, pulling Zack's eyes down to it, to the promises it contained.

He could be SOLDIER again.

All his dreams… renewed and brought to life once more. He could restore the honour that Sephiroth and Genesis – and Angeal – had taken from it and him.

"You'd be the senior SOLDIER, Zack," Cissnei added.

He could lead them, guide them to a better path than rumours said they were on right now. Warriors without a war, soldiers without discipline.

"They would all report to you." Elena's voice out of place in the spell they were trying to weave.

"And I'd have to report to… Heidegger?" he asked.

"It's negotiable," Tseng said. "But as the director general of SOLDIER you would be unassailable."

Zack almost snorted – nobody was unassailable. He leaned forward to cover his reaction. "If I say yes, can I kill Hojo?" Beside him, Aerith breathed so very calmly. Her control was fantastic because she knew he meant it.

So did Tseng. His fingers stilled. "I'm afraid that's out of the question."

Zack leaned back. "Well then, whatever you've got in that folder isn't worth spit. Hojo will take whatever, and whoever, he wants, and the board will let him because they know he's a fucking evil psychopath and none of them have ever stopped him before. That goes for you, Tseng. And you Cissnei. And you, baby Turk. You're all just fodder."

"But you have a duty–"

Zack (and maybe Aerith and Tifa, too) glared at Baby Turk. She shut up, pulling her shoulders up to just under her ears.

Zack picked up his cooling wrap. He held it as if thinking, before lowering it again. "What did they want me to do – as the new head of SOLDIER."

Zack took a bite. The dual horn meat didn't taste as good cold, but it was still sustenance. He chewed as Tseng looked at him, hand tap-tap-tapping on the folder. He swallowed, as the fingers stilled. He waited as Tseng put the folder back in the pouch.

"Rufus would like you to hunt down whoever, or whatever, killed the former president of Shinra."

It was an interesting turn of phrase: 'the former president' not 'his father'.

"Has his appointment already been confirmed?"

"It will be."

Zack nodded, accepting Tseng's statement.

Zack didn't know much about Rufus Shinra. He was the only legitimate child, but there were rumours… Lazard apparently had been an older half-brother. Rufus's mother was dead. If Zack remembered right, she'd died years ago when Rufus was still a kid – or maybe a teen? Young, anyways. He'd been made vice-president the same year Genesis mutinied, but sometime in the last five years, he'd pissed off his dad bad enough to be exiled to Junon.

"Doesn't he always wear white?"

Tseng blinked. "It is his preferred colour, yes."

"Hmm." Zack sat back thinking. If Sephiroth had returned – in whatever form – then Zack kind of would like to meet up with him again.

If Sephiroth had returned and was still crazy, then Zack was probably the only thing short of a meteor that would be able to stop him. So, he kind of had to meet up with him again.

"I won't go back to SOLDIER," he said. Tseng dipped his head in acknowledgement, unsurprised.

"But I am for hire."

He hadn't meant to say it, but the pandemonium that broke out around him was strangely satisfying.

AN: This ending kind of caught me by surprise, too. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.

Side note: I was reminded that Zack's buster sword actually has a name: Galatine. Angeal called it that in Crisis Core, but of course, Zack never got a chance to tell Cloud its name, so it was never mentioned in OG or the Remake. I'll be going back and retconning this in. I will probably catch some other small errors as I go through everything, (because that's what happens when you go back.)