Zack blinked his sleep away at the sound of a sliding door and sat up quickly and looked around the room in search of his ward. He was just quick enough to see Reeve Tuesti disappear behind the door leading to the bathroom that was part of their accommodations. Assuming that everything was in order, he reached for his phone to see that it was 5:30 am. With the first meeting scheduled for 8:30, it seemed a little early to get up, but in his mind, Reeve would probably need to get some work done before that, and Zack would be by his side, even if getting up this early was not his favorite thing to do.
He stretched and swung his arms from side to side to loosen his muscles, and then got up to do a few squats until Reeve was done in the bathroom. When he finally reappeared, fully dressed, he froze in the doorway, his hands still on his tie as he was adjusting it. Zack rose from his last squat and saluted. "Good morning, sir! Did you sleep well?" Reeve lowered his hands and cleared his throat as he looked away. "Very well, thank you. And a good morning to you, too." He stepped aside, his eyes on the floor and said: "I'm sorry, I was never in the military." Zack, having no idea why the executive said that, responded with the first thing that came into his mind as he picked up his uniform: "I'm here to protect you, sir. Just don't leave without me and it'll be just peachy." – "Peachy, yes", Reeve murmured.
He entered the bathroom, took a quick shower and put on his uniform. It was hard for him to put a finger on it, but he was somewhat more excited about what this day would bring compared to the last. With Shinra having won the war, all that was left for them was to seal the peace into a formal treaty. He was certain that there would be a lot of bowing again today, but from what he understood from yesterday's events, Reeve would be the one to represent Shinra in the upcoming negotiations. After actually having met vice president Rufus Shinra the day before, he was a little concerned about the future of the company, but he hoped that capable people like Reeve would be there to support the future president. Being a SOLDIER 1st class now, he hoped that he would be given more important missions, just like this one that would determine the fate of the company, in the coming years.
Reeve was sat in a corner of the room when Zack came out of the bathroom, again with his laptop on his knees. It seemed that he was always carrying this device around, which made sense considering the warning Reno had given Zack two days prior about their electronic devices were at risk of being spied on if they left them lying around anywhere unattended. Reeve had taken this warning so seriously that he had slept with his laptop under his pillow, and Zack could not help but admire his dedication to protecting the company's secrets.
When they entered the dining room, they found Tseng already sitting there, eating his breakfast. He put down his chopsticks immediately when they entered and bid them a good morning. "Don't mind us", Reeve said as he took a seat on the far side of the table and opened his laptop again. Zack folded his arms and looked back and forth between the two, debating internally who he would rather sit with. Tseng took the decision away from him by placing one of the tiny teacups on the table next to him with an audible clank and pouring tea for Zack, who obliged and sat down next to the Turk.
"Did anything unusual happen?", Tseng began the conversation as he poured another cup for himself. Zack should have known that what seemed normal to him was not necessarily so, if viewed in the proper context, but it never occurred to him that he held a crucial piece of information that Tseng and the other Turks had been looking for, so he answered truthfully: "No, everything seems fine", as he helped himself to breakfast. Noticing that Tseng had not picked up his chopsticks again although his plate was still half full, he asked: "Are you done already?", and sipped some of the bitter liquid that people in Wutai were apparently so obsessed with that they served it at all times no matter where he went and what they did. Tseng pushed his plate away and said dismissively: "I couldn't quite finish my second serving." Zack nodded to show understanding, although he almost never left any food on his plate, so he could not fully relate.
"Did Sephiroth say anything yesterday?", the Turk asked all of a sudden. Zack shrugged as he continued to eat. "He didn't really say anything, but I think for some reason he seems to be doing even worse than back at Midgar?" Tseng scratched the back of his head. "That's not really surprising." When Zack looked at him questioningly, the Turk supported his chin on the palm of his hand and asked provocatively: "Why did you join SOLDIER again?" Zack swallowed the food he was chewing on. "Because…" … he wanted to become a hero like Sephiroth who had first risen to fame due to his deeds in the… "I think I get it", he closed, realizing the implication. "He's obviously not welcome here. None of us are welcome, of course, but it's especially hard for him." Tseng sighed. "There are other reasons besides that." Remembering his conversation with Yasuhiro from the day before, he pried on: "What other reasons?" Tseng looked conflicted as he sighed and paused for a moment. "That's a sensitive topic", he finally said. Zack blinked. Yasuhiro had said the same thing. More secrets? "I heard someone else saying that two days ago." Tseng turned his head towards him, frowning, his brown eyes piercing his own.
Before the Turk could say anything, the door opened again and the Vice President walked in, all dressed in white with not a speck of color to him, aside from the blue feather boa he had worn the day before. He was closely followed by the tall figure of Sephiroth, who could be in a sharper contrast compared to the Vice President only if his hair was pitch black or pink. The Vice president looked cheerful with a light smile on his face, while Sephiroth looked very tired, with his eyes deep in their sockets and his shoulders slumped forward. While he had seemed worse yesterday than two days before, this morning he looked straight out horrible. With the vice president now present, Tseng rose from his seat, put his hand on Zack's shoulder for a short moment and whispered: "We'll talk later. Keep it to yourself." Zack looked after him in wonder as he walked off. He did not know anything. What was there even to keep to himself?
Sephiroth passed the Turk without looking at him or saying anything and sat down as far away from the Vice President as possible. Ironically, this meant that he ended up sitting close to Reeve, who he had seemed really annoyed with the day prior. Reeve looked up for a moment, but turned back to his work immediately after wishing Sephiroth a good morning and continuing to sip his tea.
Zack took his plate and cup and moved next to Sephiroth, who spared him only a short glance. "You look terrible. What happened?", Zack asked him straight out. Sephiroth groaned as he poured a cup of tea for himself. He glanced over to the other side of the table, where Rufus Shinra appeared deep in conversation with Tseng and spared them no mind. "The vice president is a menace", he finally said. Zack raised his eyebrows. Surely that was an exaggeration. "What do you mean by that?", he pried on. Sipping his tea, the silver-haired SOLDIER closed his eyes for a moment before he blatantly changed the topic: "You've been in Wutai only once before, right?" Zack leaned back, supporting his weight on the palms of his hands. Whenever the conversation went into a direction Sephiroth was uncomfortable with, he would start talking about something entirely different all of a sudden. Zack was conflicted between giving him space and trying to get him to open up about what was bothering him, knowing fully well that Sephiroth would probably shut him out entirely if he pushed too hard.
He finally decided that it might be better to humor him. There would be enough opportunities to get him to talk more about himself after they got back to Midgar. "I've never been to the capital before", he said looking at Sephiroth's face from the side. "But I actually met someone I knew before." Sephiroth turned his head towards him a little, but not enough for Zack to see past his bangs. "Two people actually. The world is really small." He looked at the ceiling. "Oh right. You fought Aurum before, didn't you?" Sephiroth's cup hit the table with a clank as it slipped from his grasp, spilling a few drops of tea. "Is she strong? I wonder what her actual name is", Zack continued. "She's really pretty." Sephiroth poured another cup of tea for himself and answered flatly: "Kimiko. She'd wipe the floor with you. And I thought you had a girlfriend."
Zack was not too surprised to learn that Sephiroth was acquainted with Aurum, seeing as their battles had drawn so much attention as to be discussed on TV. But he somehow failed to put into words why merely talking about another woman and recognizing her beauty did not at all compromise Aerith's position as his girlfriend. He had made a similar comment about Cissnei the other day, as if he believed that Zack was cheating on his girlfriend by simply talking to another girl. To Zack, flirting with girls was a mere exchange of pleasantries with no deeper meaning or ill intention. Granted, this was not always well-received, but Sephiroth's take on it seemed a little exaggerated nonetheless. He knew very well what jealousy felt like, but he knew just as well that it had not been brought on by Aerith flirting with the other man. And he wondered just as much why Sephiroth insisted on reminding him that he had a girlfriend.
