Reno walked into the inn at which Tseng was staying, still agitated
from their discussion. Tseng knew something he didn't, and it was obviously
something big. Reno had always prided himself on how he was able to gather
intelligence. He used blackmail, surveillance, and a multitude of other
methods to ensure that he knew everything. It was that knack that had
landed him the position of a Turk in the first place. That, and his total
lack of morals. To know that something as big as what Tseng knew had
slipped through his grasp was a large source of frustration for Reno.
Nevertheless, Reno had to continue to do his job, even if his latest assignment was not one Reno enjoyed the prospect of. He had worked long and hard to get to Nibelheim. He had wanted to go to figure out what Hojo was up to, and he had come tantalizingly close to doing so. Now, President Shinra had told him to pack his things and worm his way back into Midgar. Doing so would be difficult, to say the least, but when the President gave him an order, Reno followed it.
Reno checked at the desk and got Tseng's room number before heading up onto the second floor. He looked to the side, watching as the numbers on the doors came closer and closer to the number he was looking for. He finally found it. After some hesitation, Reno knocked on the door. After a long period of time the door swung open to reveal Tseng. Reno noticed that his boss didn't look too happy to see him. Not that Reno could blame him. He had deliberately timed his visit as two o'clock in the morning. It was Reno's way of thanking Tseng for hiding something from him.
Tseng rubbed his eyes drowsily, and after determining that it was Reno, he began to shut the door. Reno stopped him from doing so, and put his this-is-actually-important look on his face. Tseng swore at Reno, and then proceeded to mutter about how unprofessionally Reno carried himself. He finally invited Reno in, albeit only after making Reno stand in front of the door for five or so minutes. Reno stepped in and made sure to appear vigorous, just to annoy the very tired Tseng. While he was in the process of waking himself up, Tseng pointed to the mini-bar. Reno excitedly headed over and opened the door to the fridge. He picked out his favorite drink and poured it into one of the shot glasses the hotel supplied. He drank it all in one swallow before pouring himself another round.
Tseng finally decided that he was aware enough to talk with Reno. "What exactly is so important that you can wake me up in the middle of the night?" Tseng complained.
"Just keeping you alive. You come closest to death at three in the morning. And Tseng, your heart must not be too good. Quite a strain it must be, watching over me."
"Be serious for once. I have a gun under my pillow and at this time of night, accidents do happen." Tseng replied. Reno was taken aback with Tseng's boldness, and decided to be forthright.
"President Shinra has ordered me to head back to Midgar. Since you also are going back to Midgar, you are to take me along with you."
"Was my part in your trip specified in his order?"
"No, not really. But it's convenient for the both of us."
"And why is that?"
"Tseng, I really hate to break this to you, but you've been out of the loop for some time now. President Shinra didn't want to stress you with trivial matters while you were dealing with running SOLDIER. That heart thing, again." Seeing that Tseng was not amused, Reno decided to get on with his explanation. "Anyways, while you've been going about organizing our super soldiers, President Shinra and myself were discussing ways to remedy some of the many problems afflicting Shinra. For example, the fact that most of our power is in the eastern continent, yet that continent is under siege. Every person working for Shinra there is considered useless. Which is why Costa del Sol has been marked for invasion. Shinra wants to temporarily displace his power from the eastern continent to the western continent."
"What?!" Tseng cried in disbelief. "President Shinra's giving up Midgar?"
"No, no, not at all. Midgar will be maintained; it's the symbol of Shinra's power. However, for now, Shinra's military might will be based in the western continent. Troops can be deployed with a lot more ease when they don't have to run a blockade."
"So what does this have to do with you and I getting back to Midgar? Based on what you're saying, we should only go as far as Costa del Sol. Not to mention the fact that I don't see how this relates to you helping me get back to Midgar."
"We're going to Midgar because that's where President Shinra wants us to. Even I don't know his intentions just yet, but they'll become clear with time. As for how this information pertains directly to our trip to Midgar, we're to go to Costa del Sol and assist Shinra in the invasion. After that we will have a boat with which we can travel to the eastern continent. You need one, unless you plan to swim. We're to arrive in Costa del Sol in two days."
"Two days! That's not nearly enough time to reach Costa del Sol on foot." Tseng exclaimed. Reno only looked at him, perplexed and amazed.
"Wow. You really have been out of the loop."
Tseng stared out the window, watching the fields blur by. He was looking to them for peace of mind. Inwardly he kept asking himself how he had not known that armored assault vehicles had been shipped into every town still under Shinra's iron fist. There had been ten in Rocket Town, and it would have been much easier getting to Nibelheim if he had known they were there. He wouldn't have had to wait for the miraculous return of Sephiroth. Instead, he could have just ridden to Nibelheim in style, literally ripping any obstacles in his way into ribbons.
Tseng looked over at Sephiroth for a brief moment, and noticed that he too was staring out of the window. Tseng wasn't all too sure what was on Sephiroth's mind, but if time had taught him anything, it was that Tseng probably didn't want to know what was on Sephiroth's mind. His state of mind was one that constantly leaned towards insanity. Tseng blamed Hojo for screwing up so royally when it came to raising Sephiroth. He had denied Sephiroth a healthy childhood, too worried that he would lose his only specimen in his twisted experiment. Sephiroth wasn't allowed to interact with anyone who wasn't a top executive in Shinra, and he never had any parental figure. Hojo was more of a doctor than a father to Sephiroth, and Lucrecia...well, that was a whole different issue. Of course, Tseng had known that Hojo wouldn't make a good father, and originally he had planned on making Vincent Sephiroth's father figure. Not only would Sephiroth turn out halfway normal, but also the Turks would be in a better position to use Sephiroth as they pleased. Then Vincent disappeared, and Hojo began spending more hours in his lab. Once again Hojo dropped the ball, and Tseng easily figured out what had happened. After that Tseng had been forced to look for a new Turk to fill Vincent's shoes. It took him the full of eighteen years to find someone fit to do the job, but the teenage Reno was the obvious choice. At the time Reno was still only nineteen, yet he showed remarkable talent in the field of work.
Tseng began to muse on Reno's first year of work as a Turk. For the first few months he showed great respect for Tseng, but Rude won him over. Tseng suspected it was the lure of alcohol. Rude knew how to allow Reno to access it, and Reno wanted it desperately. The two bonded over their lack of respect for health and the law, and eventually their lack of respect for Tseng. Tseng realized now that it would be impossible to return Reno to his respectful former self, so he decided that his goal would be to pray that Reno minimized his intake of alcohol over the next two weeks, until he finally turned twenty-one. Then if he drank people at least wouldn't be complaining about Shinra's leniency for its top officials when it came to the law. Reno's habits weren't just frustrating for Tseng; they lowered public opinion of Shinra as well.
The assault vehicle came screeching to a halt and Tseng was thrown forward from his seat. Tseng brought himself up and stared evilly at Reno, who had so gleefully slammed on the brakes. Tseng looked out of the window of the vehicle and noticed that they were near North Corel.
"Are you insane? This is North Corel. The rebels are here, and in force!" Tseng yelled at Reno. Reno just shook his head.
"This is one of those things you haven't been told, but then again, it is very hush-hush. The rebels of North Corel are surrendering, dear Tseng." Tseng's eyes widened in surprise, and he let Reno off the hook for using such chiding tones in front of others. Reno obviously took delight in how clueless Tseng was, and decided to continue.
"You see, while the rebels of Wutai have had alarming success, the rebels of North Corel haven't been doing so well. Their casualties have risen to the point that they have no one else to send in place of their fallen. As such, they're pulling out of the war. The armistice has already been signed, but I want to see the signing of the peace treaty. Supposedly North Corel will be forced into talks with Shinra to replace its source of power, coal, with Mako. The best part is we'll have a nice big reactor near the town. Building one in the mountainous landscape will prove difficult of course, so construction should take about as long as construction for the reactor in Mt. Nibel took, anywhere from ten to twelve years. But imagine, our enemies, who fought so adamantly against the use of Mako, with a reactor standing over the landscape, a constant reminder of their defeat!" Tseng noticed how excitedly Reno talked, and was slightly disturbed by his enthusiasm. He looked over at Sephiroth to see if he was reacting similarly, but he only sat, staring out the window. Tseng doubted that Sephiroth had even heard Reno, but Sephiroth began to speak.
"The humiliation you envision them being subjected to won't work out as well as you plan. Their desire to rebel against your rule will only grow stronger. They won't fight as they did in this rebellion, but on a more covert scale. And, as you said, a reactor would be incredibly close to them. Conveniently close, perhaps. I understand that those reactors are rather expensive." Reno's grin faded into a thoughtful expression, and he appeared to think about Sephiroth's words. Tseng also wondered over Sephiroth's statement, but not in the way Reno did. Instead of thinking about the actual words, Tseng mused about Sephiroth's personality. Before he had dropped into the Lifestream Sephiroth had been brash and overconfident. Now he seemed so much more passive. He had confidence in his abilities, but only to the point that he needed. His brashness was gone altogether as well. Tseng wondered what exactly Sephiroth had done while he had been missing to cause such a metamorphosis.
Sephiroth watched the treaty signing with disinterest. He didn't understand why everyone was so excited. Had North Corel stayed in the war they wouldn't have been of any use anyways. The only thing that they could have contributed was coal, and that was useless to Wutai, which utilized electricity. Wutai found a number of ways to get that electricity, but refused to use Mako energy. Shinra had tried to impose its will on Wutai and get the town to use Mako, but Wutai refused to do so. Shinra viewed the rejection as a slap in the face, and that was what had sparked the war. Shinra decided that if it couldn't get Wutai to use Mako energy voluntarily, involuntarily would have to do. Then President Shinra decided that he wouldn't stop there, and aimed for world conquest. Sephiroth found it foolish that the war started like that. Millions of lives had been lost for a bit of extra cash in President Shinra's pocket. The rebels were more justified in their fight, but for Sephiroth the war had nothing to do with morals and freedom and conquest. Everything was about revenge. Sephiroth noted that he would have to tread cautiously if he did not want to be consumed by his desire for revenge.
After the treaty had been signed, everyone went to celebrate the new peace. For the most part everyone seemed overjoyed that the war was finally over. Just about everyone in the room had lost someone because of the war, and as such an air of solemnity infiltrated the joy. Sephiroth glanced over at everyone in the room, and eventually his eyes rested on a man who seemed rather disgruntled. He noticed that Sephiroth was staring at him and gave him a cold look. Sephiroth returned the favor. One of the citizens of North Corel noticed Sephiroth's staring contest with the man and headed over to him.
"That's Dyne. Don't mind him, he just hasn't fully accepted that we lost. He thinks Shinra's gonna overrun the place and set up one of your expensive little toys." he said casually. Sephiroth smirked; perhaps he could have some fun disillusioning the speaker.
"Well, this Dyne of yours isn't too far from the truth. I heard talk of setting up a reactor in the Corel Mountains on the way over here." Sephiroth replied. The man who had decided to talk with Sephiroth dismissed the idea.
"All you soldiers talk about that stuff. By the time you hear it, it's nothing more than manipulated second-hand information. Shinra wouldn't actually set up a reactor here, and that's not just me trusting them. The costs to build a reactor in this region would make the reactor unprofitable." The man sounded so confident in his belief. If ignorance is bliss, Sephiroth was about to take away this man's bliss.
"I didn't hear it from a soldier. I heard it from him." Sephiroth pointed to Reno, who was hanging out near the punch bowl. Sephiroth noticed the emptied flask in Reno's pocket, and dumped his drink into the trash with distaste. Reno had probably put a "special ingredient" into the punch, and Sephiroth preferred to remain sober. The man, however, was taken aback, and stormed off. Seeing this Sephiroth grinned at Dyne. How perfect it was, that the only person who knew what would happen was widely discredited. The people of North Corel had no idea as to what the future held in store for him. Sephiroth was interested in what would happen after Shinra went ahead and put up a reactor.
Having had enough of the celebration, Sephiroth left the party and went to the entrance to North Corel. He noticed that Tseng was standing there as well.
"It's foolish for them to celebrate their defeat, and even more foolish for us to celebrate our victory." Tseng said, having heard Sephiroth approaching. After he had joined Tseng Sephiroth nodded his agreement. Tseng decided to continue. "Why celebrate our victory when we haven't even won? Wutai is the real threat, and yet we act as though we've won the war. North Corel was a minor player, using outdated technology and poorly trained soldiers." Sephiroth nodded again, and came up with a response.
"We celebrate our victory because we fear we shall never have one again. We celebrate our victory because after a string of defeats we have finally managed to oust one of our foes. Morale is at an all-time low, so this victory is more a symbolic one. Think of it as proof that we can win."
Tseng thought about that, then nodded in approval. "Well spoken, Sephiroth. You've come a long way from the boy I once knew." Sephiroth smiled slightly at that. Tseng then turned and headed back to the celebration, but before doing so he left some parting words for Sephiroth to think about.
"Of course, you still have a long way to go."
Nevertheless, Reno had to continue to do his job, even if his latest assignment was not one Reno enjoyed the prospect of. He had worked long and hard to get to Nibelheim. He had wanted to go to figure out what Hojo was up to, and he had come tantalizingly close to doing so. Now, President Shinra had told him to pack his things and worm his way back into Midgar. Doing so would be difficult, to say the least, but when the President gave him an order, Reno followed it.
Reno checked at the desk and got Tseng's room number before heading up onto the second floor. He looked to the side, watching as the numbers on the doors came closer and closer to the number he was looking for. He finally found it. After some hesitation, Reno knocked on the door. After a long period of time the door swung open to reveal Tseng. Reno noticed that his boss didn't look too happy to see him. Not that Reno could blame him. He had deliberately timed his visit as two o'clock in the morning. It was Reno's way of thanking Tseng for hiding something from him.
Tseng rubbed his eyes drowsily, and after determining that it was Reno, he began to shut the door. Reno stopped him from doing so, and put his this-is-actually-important look on his face. Tseng swore at Reno, and then proceeded to mutter about how unprofessionally Reno carried himself. He finally invited Reno in, albeit only after making Reno stand in front of the door for five or so minutes. Reno stepped in and made sure to appear vigorous, just to annoy the very tired Tseng. While he was in the process of waking himself up, Tseng pointed to the mini-bar. Reno excitedly headed over and opened the door to the fridge. He picked out his favorite drink and poured it into one of the shot glasses the hotel supplied. He drank it all in one swallow before pouring himself another round.
Tseng finally decided that he was aware enough to talk with Reno. "What exactly is so important that you can wake me up in the middle of the night?" Tseng complained.
"Just keeping you alive. You come closest to death at three in the morning. And Tseng, your heart must not be too good. Quite a strain it must be, watching over me."
"Be serious for once. I have a gun under my pillow and at this time of night, accidents do happen." Tseng replied. Reno was taken aback with Tseng's boldness, and decided to be forthright.
"President Shinra has ordered me to head back to Midgar. Since you also are going back to Midgar, you are to take me along with you."
"Was my part in your trip specified in his order?"
"No, not really. But it's convenient for the both of us."
"And why is that?"
"Tseng, I really hate to break this to you, but you've been out of the loop for some time now. President Shinra didn't want to stress you with trivial matters while you were dealing with running SOLDIER. That heart thing, again." Seeing that Tseng was not amused, Reno decided to get on with his explanation. "Anyways, while you've been going about organizing our super soldiers, President Shinra and myself were discussing ways to remedy some of the many problems afflicting Shinra. For example, the fact that most of our power is in the eastern continent, yet that continent is under siege. Every person working for Shinra there is considered useless. Which is why Costa del Sol has been marked for invasion. Shinra wants to temporarily displace his power from the eastern continent to the western continent."
"What?!" Tseng cried in disbelief. "President Shinra's giving up Midgar?"
"No, no, not at all. Midgar will be maintained; it's the symbol of Shinra's power. However, for now, Shinra's military might will be based in the western continent. Troops can be deployed with a lot more ease when they don't have to run a blockade."
"So what does this have to do with you and I getting back to Midgar? Based on what you're saying, we should only go as far as Costa del Sol. Not to mention the fact that I don't see how this relates to you helping me get back to Midgar."
"We're going to Midgar because that's where President Shinra wants us to. Even I don't know his intentions just yet, but they'll become clear with time. As for how this information pertains directly to our trip to Midgar, we're to go to Costa del Sol and assist Shinra in the invasion. After that we will have a boat with which we can travel to the eastern continent. You need one, unless you plan to swim. We're to arrive in Costa del Sol in two days."
"Two days! That's not nearly enough time to reach Costa del Sol on foot." Tseng exclaimed. Reno only looked at him, perplexed and amazed.
"Wow. You really have been out of the loop."
Tseng stared out the window, watching the fields blur by. He was looking to them for peace of mind. Inwardly he kept asking himself how he had not known that armored assault vehicles had been shipped into every town still under Shinra's iron fist. There had been ten in Rocket Town, and it would have been much easier getting to Nibelheim if he had known they were there. He wouldn't have had to wait for the miraculous return of Sephiroth. Instead, he could have just ridden to Nibelheim in style, literally ripping any obstacles in his way into ribbons.
Tseng looked over at Sephiroth for a brief moment, and noticed that he too was staring out of the window. Tseng wasn't all too sure what was on Sephiroth's mind, but if time had taught him anything, it was that Tseng probably didn't want to know what was on Sephiroth's mind. His state of mind was one that constantly leaned towards insanity. Tseng blamed Hojo for screwing up so royally when it came to raising Sephiroth. He had denied Sephiroth a healthy childhood, too worried that he would lose his only specimen in his twisted experiment. Sephiroth wasn't allowed to interact with anyone who wasn't a top executive in Shinra, and he never had any parental figure. Hojo was more of a doctor than a father to Sephiroth, and Lucrecia...well, that was a whole different issue. Of course, Tseng had known that Hojo wouldn't make a good father, and originally he had planned on making Vincent Sephiroth's father figure. Not only would Sephiroth turn out halfway normal, but also the Turks would be in a better position to use Sephiroth as they pleased. Then Vincent disappeared, and Hojo began spending more hours in his lab. Once again Hojo dropped the ball, and Tseng easily figured out what had happened. After that Tseng had been forced to look for a new Turk to fill Vincent's shoes. It took him the full of eighteen years to find someone fit to do the job, but the teenage Reno was the obvious choice. At the time Reno was still only nineteen, yet he showed remarkable talent in the field of work.
Tseng began to muse on Reno's first year of work as a Turk. For the first few months he showed great respect for Tseng, but Rude won him over. Tseng suspected it was the lure of alcohol. Rude knew how to allow Reno to access it, and Reno wanted it desperately. The two bonded over their lack of respect for health and the law, and eventually their lack of respect for Tseng. Tseng realized now that it would be impossible to return Reno to his respectful former self, so he decided that his goal would be to pray that Reno minimized his intake of alcohol over the next two weeks, until he finally turned twenty-one. Then if he drank people at least wouldn't be complaining about Shinra's leniency for its top officials when it came to the law. Reno's habits weren't just frustrating for Tseng; they lowered public opinion of Shinra as well.
The assault vehicle came screeching to a halt and Tseng was thrown forward from his seat. Tseng brought himself up and stared evilly at Reno, who had so gleefully slammed on the brakes. Tseng looked out of the window of the vehicle and noticed that they were near North Corel.
"Are you insane? This is North Corel. The rebels are here, and in force!" Tseng yelled at Reno. Reno just shook his head.
"This is one of those things you haven't been told, but then again, it is very hush-hush. The rebels of North Corel are surrendering, dear Tseng." Tseng's eyes widened in surprise, and he let Reno off the hook for using such chiding tones in front of others. Reno obviously took delight in how clueless Tseng was, and decided to continue.
"You see, while the rebels of Wutai have had alarming success, the rebels of North Corel haven't been doing so well. Their casualties have risen to the point that they have no one else to send in place of their fallen. As such, they're pulling out of the war. The armistice has already been signed, but I want to see the signing of the peace treaty. Supposedly North Corel will be forced into talks with Shinra to replace its source of power, coal, with Mako. The best part is we'll have a nice big reactor near the town. Building one in the mountainous landscape will prove difficult of course, so construction should take about as long as construction for the reactor in Mt. Nibel took, anywhere from ten to twelve years. But imagine, our enemies, who fought so adamantly against the use of Mako, with a reactor standing over the landscape, a constant reminder of their defeat!" Tseng noticed how excitedly Reno talked, and was slightly disturbed by his enthusiasm. He looked over at Sephiroth to see if he was reacting similarly, but he only sat, staring out the window. Tseng doubted that Sephiroth had even heard Reno, but Sephiroth began to speak.
"The humiliation you envision them being subjected to won't work out as well as you plan. Their desire to rebel against your rule will only grow stronger. They won't fight as they did in this rebellion, but on a more covert scale. And, as you said, a reactor would be incredibly close to them. Conveniently close, perhaps. I understand that those reactors are rather expensive." Reno's grin faded into a thoughtful expression, and he appeared to think about Sephiroth's words. Tseng also wondered over Sephiroth's statement, but not in the way Reno did. Instead of thinking about the actual words, Tseng mused about Sephiroth's personality. Before he had dropped into the Lifestream Sephiroth had been brash and overconfident. Now he seemed so much more passive. He had confidence in his abilities, but only to the point that he needed. His brashness was gone altogether as well. Tseng wondered what exactly Sephiroth had done while he had been missing to cause such a metamorphosis.
Sephiroth watched the treaty signing with disinterest. He didn't understand why everyone was so excited. Had North Corel stayed in the war they wouldn't have been of any use anyways. The only thing that they could have contributed was coal, and that was useless to Wutai, which utilized electricity. Wutai found a number of ways to get that electricity, but refused to use Mako energy. Shinra had tried to impose its will on Wutai and get the town to use Mako, but Wutai refused to do so. Shinra viewed the rejection as a slap in the face, and that was what had sparked the war. Shinra decided that if it couldn't get Wutai to use Mako energy voluntarily, involuntarily would have to do. Then President Shinra decided that he wouldn't stop there, and aimed for world conquest. Sephiroth found it foolish that the war started like that. Millions of lives had been lost for a bit of extra cash in President Shinra's pocket. The rebels were more justified in their fight, but for Sephiroth the war had nothing to do with morals and freedom and conquest. Everything was about revenge. Sephiroth noted that he would have to tread cautiously if he did not want to be consumed by his desire for revenge.
After the treaty had been signed, everyone went to celebrate the new peace. For the most part everyone seemed overjoyed that the war was finally over. Just about everyone in the room had lost someone because of the war, and as such an air of solemnity infiltrated the joy. Sephiroth glanced over at everyone in the room, and eventually his eyes rested on a man who seemed rather disgruntled. He noticed that Sephiroth was staring at him and gave him a cold look. Sephiroth returned the favor. One of the citizens of North Corel noticed Sephiroth's staring contest with the man and headed over to him.
"That's Dyne. Don't mind him, he just hasn't fully accepted that we lost. He thinks Shinra's gonna overrun the place and set up one of your expensive little toys." he said casually. Sephiroth smirked; perhaps he could have some fun disillusioning the speaker.
"Well, this Dyne of yours isn't too far from the truth. I heard talk of setting up a reactor in the Corel Mountains on the way over here." Sephiroth replied. The man who had decided to talk with Sephiroth dismissed the idea.
"All you soldiers talk about that stuff. By the time you hear it, it's nothing more than manipulated second-hand information. Shinra wouldn't actually set up a reactor here, and that's not just me trusting them. The costs to build a reactor in this region would make the reactor unprofitable." The man sounded so confident in his belief. If ignorance is bliss, Sephiroth was about to take away this man's bliss.
"I didn't hear it from a soldier. I heard it from him." Sephiroth pointed to Reno, who was hanging out near the punch bowl. Sephiroth noticed the emptied flask in Reno's pocket, and dumped his drink into the trash with distaste. Reno had probably put a "special ingredient" into the punch, and Sephiroth preferred to remain sober. The man, however, was taken aback, and stormed off. Seeing this Sephiroth grinned at Dyne. How perfect it was, that the only person who knew what would happen was widely discredited. The people of North Corel had no idea as to what the future held in store for him. Sephiroth was interested in what would happen after Shinra went ahead and put up a reactor.
Having had enough of the celebration, Sephiroth left the party and went to the entrance to North Corel. He noticed that Tseng was standing there as well.
"It's foolish for them to celebrate their defeat, and even more foolish for us to celebrate our victory." Tseng said, having heard Sephiroth approaching. After he had joined Tseng Sephiroth nodded his agreement. Tseng decided to continue. "Why celebrate our victory when we haven't even won? Wutai is the real threat, and yet we act as though we've won the war. North Corel was a minor player, using outdated technology and poorly trained soldiers." Sephiroth nodded again, and came up with a response.
"We celebrate our victory because we fear we shall never have one again. We celebrate our victory because after a string of defeats we have finally managed to oust one of our foes. Morale is at an all-time low, so this victory is more a symbolic one. Think of it as proof that we can win."
Tseng thought about that, then nodded in approval. "Well spoken, Sephiroth. You've come a long way from the boy I once knew." Sephiroth smiled slightly at that. Tseng then turned and headed back to the celebration, but before doing so he left some parting words for Sephiroth to think about.
"Of course, you still have a long way to go."